Criminal Intent
by Xialdon
Summary: Kudo Shinichi knows that there are rules that Kid will always abide by; namely that no one gets hurt. What he doesn't know is that Kid's rules have just had a priority shift, and the new #1 rule? Kid always gets what he wants. Kaishin. AU.
1. Aftermath

Xialdon: **Important! **For those of you who have not yet watched episode 219 of Detective Conan, I suggest you do before reading this otherwise it won't make much sense. For those of you that have, this takes place directly after Kid leaps off of the Clock Tower and glides down using the projector screen. This chapter is on Kid's and Shinichi's thoughts and is AU from the beginning. This is a what if story. As in; what if Shinichi attended more heists as himself before he became Conan?

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Chapter One: Aftermath

The sheet writhed and coiled about him as though it had a life of it own, the white expanse of material twisting madly to free itself from hands clad in gloves of the same colour. Reflexes caused him to momentarily tighten his grip on the billowing cloth before common sense kicked in and his hands unclasped, allowing the sheet to become caught by the wind and rear up above him like some kind of phantom.

_Phantom. _His lips twitched up into an amused grin at the irony of the thought, even as his brain kicked back into gear and reminded him on the need to remove his costume and don a new disguise. It didn't take him long to resemble one of the panicking people around him as they attempted to claw and shove their way out from underneath the screen. He felt mildly guilty about the way people were scrambling about in their panic- knowing that he was the one to cause that panic.

He was, after all, the one that had used the sheet that the image of the clock face was being projected on to make his escape into the watching crowd below. To be fair, there hadn't been much choice. The new arrival in the helicopter had made sure of that, successfully managing to block off all of his other escape routes with seemingly little effort, until his only escape left had been to cling to the underside of the sheet as it swept down towards the shocked crowd, and hope desperately that it would be able to support his weight.

Kid shook his head, dispelling the thoughts from his mind as he did so. That was all in the past. Admittedly in the very, very recent past (roughly about two minutes ago), but in the past nonetheless.

With the rest of the crowd, the elusive phantom thief managed to push his way out from underneath the expanse of cloth and began to make his way stealthily through the gathering of confused people as they all tried to locate him.

Too bad that they were all looking for a gentleman thief clad in a pristine white suit. You would think- what with his reputation of switching disguises and personae in the blink of an eye, that they would be looking with suspicion at anyone who was emerging from underneath the sheet.

But as this wasn't the case, the grinning teen-aged magician slipped his way over to a clump of trees that grew on the edge of the town square. From within the safety of the trees' shadows,he finally allowed himself a moments rest, and for everything to catch up with him.

It was the breathlessness that hit first.

Kid drew in a sharp breath of air and released it just as quickly. He wouldn't say he was panting- phantom thief's (especially him) did not pant! But nonetheless he felt a strong need for air, no doubt caused by the sense of euphoria that was building up in his chest.

That had been his most thrilling heist ever!

Even now he could feel the fire that was adrenaline burning through his body- he wouldn't be surprised if there was more of that adrenaline than there was blood in his veins at the moment. And as though the adrenaline was really real fire, a spark was alight in his eyes that made violet orbs practically luminescent against the night sky.

Whoever was in the helicopter had just provided him with his best challenge yet. Had just laid to waste all of his carefully made plans, and for the firs time in a very long time, had forced him to think of his feet. And even then, whilst he was making up escape plans off the top of his head they had been with him every step of the way.

Hell, he hadn't known he was going to use the ventilation shaft in the bathroom to reach the clock face, until he had seen the bathroom door looming ahead and had formed the plan quickly in his mind. Yet it was as though the person in the helicopter was right there beside him the whole while- even more than that it was like the person in the helicopter was privy to his thoughts. As though he could read deeply and understand even the most inner workings of Kid.

This being said of course, because it was mere minutes later when he had been joined in the ventilation shaft by some of Nakamori-keibu's men. And once more he had been forced to come up with a quick emergency plan.

Whoever was in the helicopter was good. Very good. And Kid was still reeling from their brief encounter on the clock tower. That single moment when he had been hanging from the clock's hands and the detective had been so close in that helicopter. So close and yet so far away.

Kid still had no clue as to the identity of his mysterious new rival. The helicopter may have been close, but it was never close enough to see the detective's face- and as of yet no one had bothered to mention his name during the brief few times Kid had been able to listen in on the police radio frequency.

It was infuriating having such a good new rival and yet having no clue as to what their name was, or even an image to go by so that a quick internet search would sate his curiosity. He supposed it didn't overly matter- the media would no likely have the identity of his mysterious pursuer splashed across every available source tomorrow. Also there would no doubt be a revelation at the end when the helicopter landed and the detective stepped out to act superior in front of the television cameras, still it was the principle of the thing that mattered- he had wanted to find out who it was from his own resources.

A light shined in his eyes. He immediately squinted them against the glare, and raised a hand to act as a barrier over the top of his eyes. Speak of the devil. It was the helicopter that contained his promising new rival, the sleek metal body of the transportation reflecting the light of the full moon into his eyes.

The helicopter seemed to be circling slightly lower- was it going to land now then? He strained his eyes harder, this time on the ground, looking for a spot that might have been cleared for the landing. There wasn't one. And even as he watched, the helicopter circled once more and then pulled back up to a more normal height.

The person inside had made a quick sweep of the area to see if they could try to spot Kid then. He didn't blame them, but he couldn't help but grin at the futile effort.

The helicopter flashed in the moonlight as it made an abrupt U-turn, the metal gleaming and sparkling as the helicopter came to a near stationary hover once more. The searchlight it was equipped with began to erratically swing from side to side, the yellow glow isolating people in the crowd and then moving on just as quickly.

Kid saw it land on a young girl standing not to far from him. It was only briefly on her, already swinging away again by the time he registered who it was. The wild mane of brown hair being the most prominent give away and with a jolt he remembered the real reason he had planned this heist. Now that he had saved the Clock Tower from being demolished, he had to carry out the rest of the operation.

Operation: Cheer Aoko up!

The disguise he had donned became useless now, as did Kid's persona. In a flash both had disappeared. And in the elusive thief's place stood Kaito, teenage magician and prankster extraordinare. No more gentleman like tendencies, now it was just acting like any other magic- loving teenager.

Kaito crossed the distance to Aoko with a bounce in his step and a grin fixed firmly in place. It was with an exasperated look once he reached her that he realised that she was trapped inside her own thoughts. And with a roll of his eyes he settled to waiting for her to return from la-la land.

Becoming slightly impatient, Kaito decides to jump the gun and with a grin on his face, extends his arm until his closed hand is in front of her face. She blinks and turns to look at him in shock as he makes a rose appear in his hand.

"Here. I'm Kuroba Kaito, nice to meet you!"

"K- Kaito!" Aoko shrieks and he winces slightly at the volume, but continued grinning despite it. With a face-splitting grin of her own she carefully takes the rose from his hand and cradles it gently in her own. Staring down at the red petals in wonder before returning her attention to him "You! I thought you weren't coming! Thought you were watching some silly magic show on TV at home!"

"Magic shows aren't silly!" Kaito was quick to jump to the defence of his father's lifetime work, and hopefully his own "And I came because I thought you would want me to! I wouldn't have bothered if I knew you'd start being rude about magic!"

Aoko rolled her eyes at him "Magic shows are silly! But not as silly as that stupid thief!" Her playful tone was lost, giving way to her uncontrollable anger that was directed towards Kid "I thought for sure he was going to be able to take the Clock Tower! If it hadn't been for whoever is in that helicopter-" she motioned with her hand to where the helicopter was still pivoting over their heads "- then he may have gotten away with it."

Kaito would have normally jumped to Kid's defence, battling any of her derogatory comments with ones that exclaimed how brilliant the magician thief was. But his gaze was caught and locked on the helicopter that Aoko had gestured to. Inside sat his greatest rival to date, undoubtedly keen eyes were probably scanning the crowd for any signs of Kid as they spoke, or else were busy scanning over the code he had left behind.

The helicopter gradually grew stationary again. The blades whirring consistently to keep it hovering motionless in the air. Then the metal vehicle spun around to face away from the Clock Tower and put on a burst of speed.

Kaito felt his eyes become wide and his mouth open slightly in surprise, watching as the helicopter quickly gained speed as it travelled towards the horizon.

_It was leaving._

It was leaving. Moving away from them, from the Clock Tower, from the media! It was leaving to go back to whatever police station it came from and there had been no revelation. No cocky detective stepping out and proudly boasting about how he had almost caught Kid. There was nothing.

Kaito was shocked at the level of disappointment that hit him. But it was a shock, that the detective who had nearly outwitted him was just leaving. After all of that. After the utter thrill of a challenge that the other had provided him with, and he didn't even get to find out who this other was. After all that and his greatest rival to date was going to remain a mystery.

And maybe he was being over dramatic. He did have enough know how about a computer to access any data banks he wanted and see who the police had recorded to be in that helicopter at the time. And it was pretty much guaranteed that the media would have it all over the news and printed in the newspapers tomorrow. But that was just it. Both those acts would have to happen tomorrow, not right now. And Kaito was by nature, not a patient person.

Disappointment and annoyance waged war inside him as he watched as the helicopter was reduced to little more than a speck on the horizon... and then nothing. The most unsettling thing was he didn't even know if this person was planning on coming back to future Kid heists and after the thrill they had just provided him, after the challenge that had made the heists fun once more, he didn't think he could go back to the boring routine that the Task Force brought him when unaided by any clever detectives.

"-o... Kai-... -i! Kait... BAKAITO!"

He was so engrossed in his thoughts and feelings that it took awhile for Kaito to hear the voice calling him name. But the last scream of Aoko's_ affectionate _nickname for him cut through his contemplations and almost burst his ear drums with how high pitch it was.

With a cry, Kaito clapped his hands over his ears and glared half-heartedly at Aoko. Aoko glared back with a lot more ferociousness.

"What were you doing you baka? You just spaced out! You didn't even defend Kid like you normally do!" Aoko stomped her foot in emphasis of her anger and Kaito flinched back away from her. Despite knowing that she currently had no access to a mop to hit him with, years of mop chases had engrained into him to back away when she got angry.

"I was just thinking Ahoko!" Kaito shot back, removing his hands from his ears and facing her just as stubbornly as she was facing him.

Aoko snorted and rolled her eyes "No wonder you looked so vacant, I forgot how hard a task that was for you."

Kaito stared at her in shock, and got ready to reply with a sarcastic comment of his own, but was stopped by the abrupt arrival of Aoko's dad.

Nakamori was hardly paying attention to where he walking, the man merely glanced up long enough to make sure that he was indeed standing with his daughter and her friend, as opposed to a random stranger, and then went back to staring at the notebook in his hands. Both Aoko and Kaito stopped their mini, half playful spat, to turn confused eyes onto the man.

The Inspector kept his gaze on the notebook, and if he felt their eyes on him he certainly didn't show it. Instead he was muttering to himself and tapping a pencil on the open pages of his notebook, occasionally scribbling something down. Aoko and Kaito shared a confused glance between them, before Aoko skipped forwards and greeted her dad.

"How did the heist go? I saw you looking out of the hatch on the clock face! And I saw Kid shoot at you! He didn't hurt you did he? If he hurt you, I'll kill him!" Aoko burst into her normal Kid rant to her father, who showed no signs of even noticing she was there, let alone speaking to him.

"Dad?" Aoko glowered at her unresponsive father, before starting up a verbal spat against him. One that went unnoticed by the distracted Inspector.

Kaito crept forwards and glanced down at the Inspector's notebook. Simultaneously he was struck by both smugness and guilt. Smugness because that was the code he had left on the clock face, copied down into the Inspector's notebook and slowly driving the man insane as he tried to figure it out. Guilt because that was his code that was also causing the Inspector to ignore his daughter.

Not expecting a response better than the one that Aoko had managed to achieve so far, Kaito attempted to get his questions answered anyway. Because if there was somebody here who would no who was up in that helicopter, it would be Nakamori.

"The detective in the helicopter seemed good enough to corner Kid like they did, how come they haven't stayed behind to help solve the code?" Kaito was unprepared to suddenly have the front of his collar grabbed by the Inspector and furiously shaken.

"How am I supposed to know what goes on in that stupid brat's head? I don't know even now why he was here, let alone why Megure even allowed that punk to come in and take over my operation anyway! Then again, that brat's probably got a swollen head from all of the cases he's solved already- he probably thought he could waltz in, catch Kid and saunter off without much trouble. _Kudo Shinichi _currently the most famous teenage detective in Japan, well he certainly doesn't do any better than me at catching kid!" Nakamori snarled out, emphasising certain words by shaking Kaito's shirt.

The teenage magician was relieved when he was released and he danced back out of reach of Nakamori in case the man had another fit on anger. He watched as Aoko engaged her father in an argument about him ignoring her, and then turned away out of disinterest.

Kudo Shinichi. That famous teenage detective had been the once to challenge him tonight. Had been the one to nearly catch him tonight. Kaito felt a thrill through his veins, but it was quickly dampened. He had also been the one to leave almost immediately after the heist was done, hadn't even stuck around to solve the code. Did that mean the detective wasn't interested in coming back?

Kaito sighed. Then his eyes lit up in determination, he could only wait to see what would happen. He would hold another heist in a week's time, and if Kudo showed up then he would have another thrilling heist... and if not? Well, he would cross that bridge when he came to it. Kaito smiled in light of his plan.

Aoko stormed over to him "Argh! That man! Why I oughta...-" Kaito flinched as she set a sharp glare at him "And you can wipe that smirk of your face too!"

* * *

-The Next Day-

'One coffee, two cokes. One coffee, two cokes.' She placed the two glass cups onto the tray and spun on her heel to collect the rest of the order. Grabbing a china cup, she cradled it in both of her hands and faced the automated coffee machine with trepidation. There were two buttons for the espresso coffee and she had been told that one of them didn't work, but she couldn't remember which one.

The last thing she wanted to do was embarrass herself by pressing the wrong one. She shifted the cup into one hand, and with the other she timidly reached out and jabbed one of the two buttons. She almost closed her eyes, but instead simply waited with baited breath for something to happen. Her cheeks began to flush red when nothing did happen and then to her relief, the light flashed red. With a gasp of surprise, she barely managed to fumble the cup under the nozzle before a jet of the hot liquid sprayed out.

As shaky hands clutched the cup underneath the nozzle, doe eyes darted back to check no one had seen her mishap. Her co-workers were all too busy with their own orders thankfully, and the customers remained seated at their tables, caught up in conversations which left them all blissfully unaware of her.

All except for the person who had ordered the coffee.

He watched her with penetrating blue eyes, currently alight with humour and encouragement. Both emotions reflected in the smile which also adorned his face.

She hesitantly smiled back, despite her face slowly burning into a deep crimson. The encouraging eyes stayed on her for a second, before they were torn away to look at one of the two girls also at his table, who was making gestures with her hands to emphasise whatever she was saying.

Holding the scalding cup carefully in her hands, she eased it onto the tray with the other two drinks and then hesitantly scooped the tray up into her arms. From there she began the daunting task of crossing to their table whilst balancing the tray of drinks in her arms. For anyone else this task would be considered easy- for her, a natural born accident prone, it was exceedingly difficult.

It was with great relief when she set the tray down on the waiting customers' table and offered them a slightly strained smile. One of the girls, the one with long brown hair and kind blue eyes, smiled back at her in thanks. The other one, with short lighter brown hair, was too busy glaring holes into the head of the only male at the table. The one with the searing blue eyes. He was also looking at her with a smile of thanks, although every now and again he would shoot aggravated looks at the girl who was glaring at him.

"Here are your drinks." She chimed in her best, happy-go-lucky voice. The long brown haired girl's smile widened, obviously having bought her act. But the teenage boy beside merely gave her another amused look.

"Thank you." Shinichi offered the tired and nervous waitress who had just brought over their drinks. His eyes drank in her form, not through any interest in her looks per say, but more interested in her disguise. 'Runaway.' Immediately flashed through his mind, her appearance coupled with her nervous disposition clearly showed that she was someone who was hiding.

"You're welcome." The waitress' smile widened, this one a real one. Shinichi nodded to her and took the cup of coffee off of the tray for her, she clearly wasn't very comfortable handing the hot liquid. She nodded to him in thanks and then placed the girls' cokes on the table in front of them "Please enjoy your drinks, and if there's anything you need just call me over."

"Thanks." Ran said kindly, beaming at the waitress. The waitress hurriedly offered them a slight bow and then turned to walk over to another set of customers to collect their orders.

Shinichi grimaced once she had left. Whilst his detective mind had jumped at the chance to analyse the unusual woman and find out why she was hiding the way she was, he knew that now there were no more interruptions Sonoko had free reign.

"What about his eyes? Oh, I bet they were the colour of jewels-" She suddenly gushed, her eyes lit up and Shinichi could almost see the drool he felt ought to be coming out of her mouth.

"I already told you, I was in a helicopter. I did not get close enough to see what colour eyes Kid had." Shinichi rolled his eyes and turned to look out of the window in boredom.

Really. He should have known something like this would happen and he never should have agreed to go on that Kid heist in the first place. Sonoko had managed to convince Ran, however, using her fan-girlish argument of wanting a semi-competent detective to catch Kid so that she could marry him. She had also convinced her with a more realistic argument; Sonoko's parents owned shares in the Clock Tower and if it had gotten stolen then they would have received a loss.

With this in mind Ran had "convinced" him (read threatened) to go on the heist and stop the Clock Tower from getting stolen.

Now he really wished he hadn't. When he had first woke up this morning to Sonoko banging on his front door and proceeding to drag him out of his house at the earliest opportunity, he had known that today was going to be a bad day. And now he had been proven right. After collecting Ran, Sonoko had dragged him to this new café and began to grill him for information on Kid.

"You're useless!" Sonoko's voice cut through his musings "You were supposed to catch him for me, and you couldn't even do that! And now you don't even have any useful information on him."

"Sonoko." Ran softly chided "I'm sure that Shinichi tried his best. Kid has eluded everyone for years, it's no surprise that he got away from Shinichi as well."

Shinichi pretended that that hadn't hurt, even as Sonoko broke out into snickers and Ran looked on confused. No doubt she had no idea that what she said could be taken as offensive.

Sonoko then turned her attention back to him "Well, what about-"

"I told you, I don't know anything!" Shinichi quickly interrupted, in no mood to be dragged back into the interrogation session that Sonoko was determined to finish.

Sonoko huffed and turned slightly to the side so that she was more facing Ran than facing the both of them. Shinichi rolled his eyes at her childish attempt to seclude him from their little group, but nonetheless he made it appear as though it had worked by falling into contemplative silence.

His mind, now left at peace from the topic of Kid, immediately jumped back to the waitress. She had been in disguise, and there was no maliciousness from her, or the type of tenseness that someone would show when they were a criminal in disguise having accidentally encountered a detective. (And really, in his life it was surprising how often he encountered these types of people).

Saito-san (as her name-tag had read) appeared to have black hair and brown eyes. In reality her hair was blonde in colour, he had seen this because the hair dye she was obviously using hadn't been renewed recently and so the roots had grown out, showing through the blonde. Her eyes, most likely originally blue, were now brown due to contacts. This had been deduced from the slight rings of blue made around the iris that contacts usually left.

On top of this she spoke with a strange accent, mispronouncing some words and also accenting the vowels a little too much. This suggested that she came from an English speaking country, probably America, as the tan she had, she had clearly had for a long time.

There were other small traits that also pointed to her being in hiding. Like the nervous twitches she had, and the way her eyes kept darting back to glance over her shoulder as though she were afraid there was someone behind her. And then there were the bruises...

Shinichi narrowed his eyes. One had been encircling her wrist, probably from a hand gripping it too hard. There was also one around her eye, that had been heavily covered with make up, but was still noticeable to the trained eye.

Everything about that just seemed to scream abuse, and that was probably why she was in hiding. But abuse by whom? She had a professional air about her that suggested that she had had a well to do job before hand, one that required a lot of smarts. Therefore it was unlikely that she was still living with her parents, and therefore even more unlikely that it had been them who was abusing her.

That left the possibility of a partner. And now that he recalled it... yes. There had been a patch of pale skin encircling her fourth finger on her right hand. She had been wearing a wedding rind, or engagement ring often enough for her finger not to be tanned. Therefore it was likely that she had run away from her abusive partner and was worried about him coming after her.

Shinichi scowled to himself. He hated it when relationships which were supposed to be loving and caring, turned out to be abusive and cruel. It wasn't right. Then and there he vowed to himself to keep a careful eye on Saito-san and make sure that she wasn't in any danger from her ex-partner.

"Shinichi!"

He jolted as the loud voice cut through his thoughts and turned to look at Ran who rolled her eyes at him and motioned with her hands to Sonoko, who was staring at him with that creepy fan-girl look in her eyes again.

"What about his figure? Did you think it was attractive?" She seemed almost frothing at the mouth for his answer.

Shinichi, however, was helpless to do anything but gape at her. Had she seriously just asked him if he thought another guy's body was attractive?

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Xialdon: I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, and please let me know if you want more by R&R.


	2. Monotonous

Xialdon: Hey! I'm sorry it took me so long to update, but chapter two of this story has given me a lot of trouble and I've been slaving away to get it complete in time. You see, I am going away on holiday, from Britain to America (in five hours!) and I have spent the last day desperately trying to finish this chapter so that I don't leave you all hanging for another two weeks. I think you'll be please to know however that chapter three and four came easier to me than chapter two did, and so they are already done. Which means with enough reviews I might manage to get over my lack of sleep long enough to update straight away when I'm back off of holiday in two weeks. Anyway... enjoy!

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"Wha- what? I do not find that stupid thief attractive!" Shinichi was hard pressed not to shout his response at the surprised teenage girl. Instead he managed to settle for a more frantic whisper, as his cheeks lit up red and blue eyes glowed with mortification and annoyance. Both emotions mixed into a half-hearted glared which was aimed steadily at the aforementioned teenage girl.

Both Sonoko and Ran blinked at him. Then they exchanged shocked looks and began to giggle with one another.

Shinichi barely suppressed the urge to scowl and could feel his eyes begin to twitch in annoyance. 'Why are they laughing? It's not funny! How did they expect me to react, asking a question like that?'

Their laughter gradually ceased and Sonoko gave him a weird look from across the table "I didn't ask whether you found him attractive. I meant was he attractive in general, as in, would I find him attractive up close?"

Shinichi felt his face burn a deeper red "I... I know that! What I meant was... Argh! What would I know about your taste in guys anyway?" The embarrassed detective turned his gaze away from the the other two occupants of the table, who looked like they were about to laugh at him again, and stared resolutely at the scenery outside the window.

Ran did succumb to laughing quietly at the embarrassed detective, but hastily tried to smother her giggles under her hand. Shinichi heard anyway, and turned to shoot his childhood friend a miffed look, cheeks still alight with mortification.

It took some time for the laughter to die out again, but when it did, Sonoko threw her head back with a depressed sigh "Ohh! The whole point of getting you to go on this heist was so that you could find out as much information about Kid as you possibly could! And yet there's nothing. You didn't find out any more than I already knew!"

Shinichi gave her a blank look "As far as I was concerned, I was only attending this heist to catch the thief and stop him from stealing the Clock Tower that your parents had shares in. I had no idea I was apparently under an obligation to retrieve information about Kid for you, and if I had I certainly wouldn't have gone. It would have saved me the headache I'm experiencing now."

Sonoko glowered at him in response "I can't help the fact that I'm in love with Kaitou Kid-sama! And I wouldn't even if I could. But to prove how worthy I am of him, I need to stand out to him. And to do this I must know everything I can about him so that he becomes impressed with how much I've dedicated myself to finding out about him!"

Shinichi adorned his trademark deadpan expression "You mean how much you've dedicated me to finding out information about him."

Sonoko gave a triumphant smile "Exactly! Although a poor job you're doing of it so far, you're just going to have to do a better job of it next time."

"Next time?" Shinichi shook his head and gave the girl his best no-means-no look "There won't be a next time. I've had enough of your evil interrogations, and enough of that thief as that's all we ever seem to talk about at the moment. I'm not attending another Kid heist, ever."

"What? Ran, do something about your husband! Tell him he had to catch my Kid-sama for me, or else find out as much as he possibly can about the thief!" Sonoko turned her desperate, tear-filled eyes (obviously faked) on Ran when she saw that Shinichi was not going to give in of his own accord.

"Sonoko! We are not married!" Ran flushed a light shade of red, but nonetheless turned to face her detective-obsessed childhood friend "Come on, Shinichi. Can't you at least go to one more heist and see what it's like? Then if you don't like it you can stop altogether. Please Shinichi? For Sonoko?"

"No way." Shinichi was not going to let Ran get to him, especially when she was using that mothering voice on him, as though he were a small child in her charge "I am not going to another Kid heist just so Sonoko can pick my brain apart again, it's not gonna happen."

"Sorry, Sonoko. I tried." Ran shot her friend an apologetic smile and once more turned out the consequential argument between Sonoko and Shinichi as the love-sick girl tried to convince the detective to go to another heist.

It was a disgruntled detective, a fuming Sonoko and a helpless Ran who left the café later on that day. Shinichi was disgruntled over the fact that Sonoko had not let up on him the entire time they were in the shop, and Sonoko was fuming because despite her persistence in the matter, Shinichi still refused to attend any more heists. Ran was helplessly caught in the middle between her two friends and doing her best to stay out of the argument.

Even through his annoyance, Shinichi still took one last worried glance back at their waitress. The girl was clearly terrified about being caught by whoever it was that she had run away from. And it was also clear that the person she had run away from was not a nice one.

He watched as the Saito Asako looked about her with nervous eyes, her hands trembling as she handed a particularly rough looking man his drink. The man did nothing but smile at her, but Asako hurried away as soon as she had given him his order.

Shinichi's eyes narrowed, as a detective it was his duty to not only to solve committed crimes, but also to prevent those that may happen. He swore then and there to keep a careful eye on the girl, there was no way he going to allow someone to be harmed at all, let alone in a shop that was almost right on his doorstep.

* * *

-One week later-

"OK, everybody confirm your positions." Nakamori barked into his radio as he paced back and forth in front of a glass case. It was the one that contained the jewel, which Kid had chosen as the target of his latest heist. A sudden crackle of the radio issued before it was filled with the voices of officer upon officer confirming that they were in position. He felt his eye twitch and he raised the radio once more "NOT TO ME YOU IDIOTS! TO YOUR SECTION LEADER! THEN THE SECTION LEADERS CONFIRM EVERYTHING TO ME!"

There was a brief murmur of apologies from the men, and then nothing but static once more. Nakamori calmed himself by pinching the bridge of his nose, remaining unaware as his pacing abruptly increased in speed.

The static was once more interrupted by the voice of his alpha team leader "All men are present and positions confirmed, Sir. We've also already performed the usual password routine so that there's no chance of one of them being Kid."

"Good. Good." Nakamori murmured back, well aware that if Kid was already in their midst, passwords wouldn't do them a lot of good. But at least one of his men was showing initiative for a change. It was nice to know that they could be taught, even if it was painstakingly slowly over a time span of a couple of years.

"Everyone's here, Sir. And no one's left their post al night." The gamma leader was next to report back and Nakamori was quick to get on his case about having the men confirm their chosen passwords with each other, just to make sure that Kid hadn't already disguised himself as part of the Task Force.

Seconds later he gave the exact same instructions to the beta team leader. Sighing once more, Nakamori paused in his pacing to look at the large clock that hung on the wall above where the jewel was being kept. The hands were almost on top of each other, the larger hand just slightly to the left of the small one. There was only a few more minutes until midnight.

Only a few more minutes until Kid showed up and led them all on a merry chase after both him and the jewel, which he would no doubt manage to sneak out from under their noses in a matter of minutes. No! He must not think like that, there was no way that Kid was going to slip through their grasp this time. Especially not after the way that Kudo kid had shown up last time and almost put them all to shame with his near capture of the elusive phantom thief.

No, this time the Task Force was going to catch Kid, once and for all.

Too agitated to continue pacing, Nakamori glanced warily around him. Many of the men with him were also attentive and alert, eyes trained on every available entrance to the room. All of the many windows and doors were under watchful eyes... there was no way Kid could get in without being seen.

The clock struck midnight.

And suddenly there was a hissing noise filling the room. Even Nakamori found himself looking about frantically for whatever was the cause of the noise- and knowing Kid, it wouldn't be good.

The air vents that lined the bottom of the panelled walls suddenly started spewing pink smoke. In seconds all of his men were leaping away from the edges of the room and crowding in the middle of the hall, desperate to avoid what may or may not be knock-out gas.

Kid's laughter echoed around the hall, seconds before a large net dropped from the ceiling and trapped Nakamori and all of his men inside. Several were knocked off their feet, and due to their closeness, rolled into others' legs and knocked them off of their feet. This resulted in a domino effect and within a minute the entire Task Force members that were in the hall, and their leader, were on the floor muttering curses.

Kid appeared in another flash of smoke, perched atop of the glass case which contained the jewel. Without stepping down from the case, and without making any effort to remove the glass whatsoever, he suddenly had the jewel in his hand. Just like that.

As the men blinked at the astounding display of magic, Kid gave a regal bow. "Thank you for making my heist so easy tonight, gentlemen. I must confess myself disappointed however, the heist was much more fun last time when I had such an intelligent mind challenging my own. It's a shame that same mind isn't in attendance on this heist."

With another burst of smoke, Kid disappeared. The men all immediately began kicking and struggling against the net and they soon managed to remove it. In the midst of the chaos, one of the doors leading out of the hall slammed shut behind the fleeing thief.

Nakamori leapt to his feet and bellowed "AFTER HIM!"

Kid chuckled to himself as he heard the Inspector's voice echoing in the hall, no doubt making all of his men's ears ring in the process. 'The Inspector's so worked up tonight, must be because Kudo almost upstaged him last heist.'

Kid frowned at the thought of the detective. He had been so hoping that Kudo would show up at this heist. The last heist had been so challenging, so _fun. _It was a relief to have a heist be interesting again, up until that heist it had started to become just another chore. Just another thing he **had** to do, not something that he also enjoyed at the same time.

But with Kudo up there in that helicopter, suddenly it had become a thrill, knowing once more than if he messed up just slightly he would be caught. Would be placed in jail, would never be able to achieve his goal. And despite knowing that Kudo was almost the one to lock him up, he couldn't help but be thankful to the detective for making the heists so fun once more.

And he wanted them to continue being fun!

Kid made a semi-alarmed sound in the back of his throat as the back of his blazer was brushed against by one of the Task Force's reaching hands. 'When did they get here?' He immediately put on a burst of speed, his head turning to see how many there were.

Lots.

And Nakamori was in the lead like usual. Just how had he got there without his notice? 'Kudo.' Kid almost laughed 'He's not even here and he's still causing trouble for me. Why am I so caught up on him? I know he was a challenge... but still.'

Kid called back in a mocking voice to the already irate Inspector "Relish the moment Keibu, that's as close as you'll ever get."

"Damn you Kid!" Nakamori snarled, and Kid heard the sound of his heavy footsteps increasing in pace. With a delighted laugh he threw himself forwards and quickened his pace even more. Soon he would be at the stairs, and from there the roof, where he would make his customary escape (this time, at least, there would be no need to use make-shift hang-gliders.)

But before he reached the roof...

Kid made a quick leap into the air. To the Task Force behind him it would probably seem like he had just had too much sugar before he came to the heist. Really he had been avoiding one of his pre-set trip wires. One which would set off a rather... unusual trap.

He heard the alarmed cry behind him, and quickly skidded to a halt. With no attempt to suppress his glee, he whipped around to observe the results of his trap. For several seconds there was silence in the hallway. All of the men too stunned to even so much as curse the thief who had done this to them, and said thief too amused to say anything.

The silence was broken when Kid starting chuckling at the expense of the Task Force, which led to a chain reaction of the men finding their own voices again. The air suddenly became heavy with curses and death threats towards the man clad in white, who only laughed harder when he heard them.

Because really, who would take a death threat seriously when it was coming out of the mouth of someone who covered from head to toe in custard and sparkly pink feathers? Kid certainly wouldn't, his mirth apparent to all of the men as his laughter continued.

All of the men were snarling and struggling to untangle themselves from both their co-workers and the sticky pudding which rendered them almost unable to move. Surely just custard, even if it was a lot, wasn't enough on it's own to near enough glue them to the floor?

"Ahh, and just in case one of you gets the bright idea to try and eat you way out of the mess you've made, I just want to add that I have mixed something extra into the custard. If I can recall correctly, I'm sure it was something like super glue." Kid's grin almost split his face in two as he gladly informed them of why their predicament was so bad.

Some of the men seemed to sag in defeat, resigned to lounging about on the floor for the rest of the night until someone realised that there were supposed to be thirty or so men in the building that hadn't come out yet, and then came to check on them. Hopefully they wouldn't have to sleep of the floor, but they supposed it could be worse.

Some of the more vigilant Task Force members continued to kick and struggle against the sticky substance that bound them to the floor. Nakamori himself looked like he was about to ignore Kid's words of advice and start eating his way out of the trap anyway.

Considering the man's attitude to catching him on past heists, Kid wouldn't put it past the man to try, even if it meant severe discomfort in the morning.

"Oh, and I also added my own twist to it." Kid didn't really want the head of his Task Force, and the father of his best friend, to get ill as a consequence of one of his heists, so he supposed he had better mention everything possible that would get the man to stop.

There was a collective groan from all of them men at the end of this statement, and Kid felt his grin widen, if that were humanly possible. Then again, knowing Kid, his grin would have widened even if it weren't humanly possible.

"I've made it so that it begins to produce sleeping gas within ten or so minutes of being triggered, and I'd hate to imagine what it would do to you if the stuff was already inside your body by that point. Hmm, actually that may be interesting to watch..." Kid smirked as Nakamori stopped eyeing the custard with a contemplative look and once more begun to wrestle with it instead.

"So, I'll either see you in ten minutes or next heist then. Bye!" With that parting statement, Kid resumed running towards the winding staircase that led to the roof. Although winding wasn't really the best way to describe it as it went up in a square shaped spiral... if that were possible.

Kid stopped musing the oddness of some staircases when he heard Nakamori shouting curses after him. His lips twitched up into another amused grin. And he turned around to wave goodbye to the Inspector and blow him a goodbye kiss.

Probably not the best idea, as this seemed to give the Inspector enough energy and motivation to finally break free of the custard and super glue mix and give chase once more. Kid gave a bout of joyful laughter and resumed sprinting for the staircase.

"KID! Get back here!" Nakamori snarled from somewhere behind him "Kid! Argh, would the lot of you stop playing in that mess already and get back to your jobs!" Now that he was free, Nakamori seemed to have forgotten how hard it had been for him to break free, and therefore forgotten why it was that the Task Force were still almost immobilized.

Seeing their leader free seemed to motivate the entire Task Force into putting the effort into freeing themselves as well. By the time Kid had made it halfway up the staircase he heard the familiar sound of what seemed to be a herd of rhinos, but was in fact the sound of the Task Force chasing him.

Kid didn't wait for his pursuers, instead choosing to leap and bound up the steps. 'Setting the traps is still fun I suppose, and seeing the Task Force trying their all is amusing as well. But what would it be like to see Kudo trying to navigate his way around my traps?' Kid gave a shark like grin at the thought of the quick thinking detective covered in the custard-glue mixture from earlier.

It was quite disappointing that the teenage detective wasn't here. He had hoped that the last heist would be enough to peak the meitantei's interest, but considering that the detective had left straight after the heist had finished, he supposed it wasn't that surprising that the detective hadn't been that interested.

Kid sighed. Really this was so unlike him! If Kid wanted something he went after it and he got it, he didn't wait around to see if that something would come to him.

Kid blinked. Why was he waiting around to see if the detective would come back to his heists? Why not ensure that the detective was going to be there next time? There had to be something different about the past heist that had drawn Kudo in, but what was it?

The door leading out onto the roof was suddenly in front of him and Kid wasted no time in bursting through it and jogging his way over to the edge of the roof, where he turned and waited for the Task Force to assemble so that he could make his customary dramatic exit.

"KID!" Seconds later and Nakamori burst through the door, an entire wave of Task Force officers following in his wake.

"I must thank you for the jewel, Inspector! I must say, it is a rather valuable souvenir, more so than one would normally get from a visit to a new place." Kid grinned as he held the jewel up under the moonlight. The pale glow illuminated the gem, and for a brief second there was a flash as though the gem may change colour.

Kid held his breath.

And then the moment had passed and the jewel remained the same simple colour. Thankfully Kid didn't have long to think about it, because at that moment Nakamori and ten of the closest Task Force officers chose to launch themselves at him in a desperate bid to get the jewel before he fled.

Laughing Kid jumped backwards off of the roof, slipping the jewel into the pocket on the inside of his blazer with one hand, whilst the other hit the button to activate his hang-glider. It was the sound of music to his ears to hear the customary curses filling the night sky as he made his grand exit on the ever faithful contraption.

He slipped the jewel out once more to admire it. Despite the fantastic glow it gave, he had no interest in it now that he knew it was the not the gem he sought. Sighing, he turned his attention back onto what seemed like more achievable targets.

What had attracted Kudo to that last heist? And could he repeat it in future heists? There were a list of things he had done differently at the last heist, which one had piqued Kudo's interest? Or wasn't it anything he had done, but an outside factor?

'Gah! I can't think like that! How am I supposed to replicate it if it's something beyond my control?' Kid shook his head and firmed his resolve. Next heist he would try to draw in Kudo's attention once more. Because without a competent detective at his heists, they were just boring. The same old, same old. But if Kudo was there again, would the adrenaline rush come back, like last time at that heist? Would the rush and thrill of the chase be there again? He certainly hoped so.

* * *

Xialdon: Well there you have it! Sorry, I know it wasn't as long as my last chapter, but I did have a hard time with this one. I can promise you that there will be more Kaito and Shinichi interaction next chapter for those of you who are looking forward to it, and that next chapter will be longer as well (to make up for the longer wait!)

And I must add that I feel obliged to reply to all of the wonderful reviews I got, I must say that all of you have really encouraged me with this story, and you all have yourselves to thank that this chapter was out before I went away on holiday and not after!

So...

**Desperatembrace: **I can promise you that whilst I don't know if Heiji will make an actual appearance in this story, I do know that Shinichi will know him at some point. As for whether or not Shinichi turns into Conan in this story, I'm afraid you'll just have to wait and find out...

**Raga: **Thank you! I haven't read one that talks much about the Clock Tower heist either, and as that is one of my favourite episodes, I felt I absolutely had to start of there. I'm really glad you liked it!

**Renkin-chan: **Again, thank you! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, even if it is only a filler for the events between their first meeting and their second!

**InkWave: **Well, I've continued! :) There wasn't much to learn about my runaway in this chapter, I'm sad to say. But I can assure that at some point in the future there will be more!

**Young Roy: **Wow, my story has its own stalker! I'm not sure whether to feel honoured or scared... I'm only joking :) Thank you for saying you like the story, it means a lot to me!

**splishims: **Thank you for the kind review! Sorry about my tenses, it was meant to show switching between past feelings and present talking, but I guess it got a little confusing...

**elsey951: **Thank you for the review, and I updated as quick as I could! Hope you enjoyed it.

**tsuanyue: **Thank you for taking the time to read my story, and I must say that I'm already in love with your own :).

**Amy-sama90: **I updated as quick as I could! Hope you enjoyed it.

**NekoHatake: **Lol, well I wouldn't want Sonoko to hunt me down! Hope you enjoyed the new chapter!

**Mesonoxian: **Thank you!

**angelwingsonline: **Here you are, and thank you for the review! I made more in Kid's POV so I hope you liked it :)

**bb-s: **Thank you. And I updated as soon as I could. Sorry there was no Kid- Shinichi interaction this time, but definitely next chapter!

**luminousSpark: **Thank you! And here's more!

**I-Kill-U-For-Yaoi: **I hope that means you like it and find it funny :) I hope you liked the new chapter just as much.

**simply anonymous: **Well, you never know... I think he's just denying it so that he doesn't lose his "cool" in front of the girls :P

**SecondtoNon: **Here you are! I hope you enjoyed the new chapter!

**Daisuke Kazamatsuri: **I hope I spelt your name right! I'm glad you liked it! And thank you for your review!

**Kuroshiro-Kai:** Lol, your review really made me laugh, so here's "moar" :)

**Fates Illusion: **Not a long wait for you, as I'm assuming you've just read it! But I hope you enjoy the second chapter just as much!

**AnniCat: **Well here's the next chapter! And thank you for your lovely compliments!

Thank you to all of my reviewers and all of the readers as well. Please R&R to encourage me to upload the third chapter the second I get back off of my holiday. Until then I hope to hear more from you! :)


	3. Welcome To The Game

Xialdon: I am so sorry! Like I said, I've been away on a two week holiday. And when I got back I had jet lag and all sorts of things to deal with, and I just never had the time to check through and upload this chapter. As such I apologise and I promise to start work on the next chapter straight away, and have it up as soon as I am done typing it! I hope you all forgive me for taking so long!

* * *

Chapter Three: Welcome To The Game

At least once a week, Shinichi made sure to return to the coffee shop where Saito Asako worked. He didn't do that much there. It wasn't as though he obsessively watched her for any more signs of abuse, and he only watched out of the corner of his eye if a male customer gave her too much hassle. But he wasn't going to step in and save her from every male in the shop who intimidated her, or she would never recover from her ordeal, he was just on the look out for any sign of her abusive ex.

When he was in the shop, he also found that the calm, friendly atmosphere allowed him to relax and unwind from the stress of school or another murder case that he had found himself on. He would simply order a coffee and read the newspaper, or work quietly on his homework.

He also came under the habit of always sitting at the same table. Not because it meant that he would get served by Saito-san (although it did benefit his self-imposed quest), but because of the view it provided of the street. All the people bustling about in their busy lives would draw interest from him, and he would put his intellect to the test by seeing if he could work out their professions. It gave him a good feeling whenever he found he was right, it put him a step closer to becoming like his inspiration; Holmes.

Nothing much happened on these visits. At first he was just another customer to the clumsy runaway waitress, but soon they began chatting. From there on they had fast become friends, even though it had taken him a while to get her to move on from the fact that he was a semi-famous detective.

For a second he had thought that she was going to tell him her situation, but then she got this frightened, paranoid look in her eyes and she quickly hurried away. The chats had stopped for awhile, but gradually began to build back up again, Shinichi making sure not to make any more too obvious attempts to pry into her life.

It was nearing the three month mark of having known each other when Shinichi first saw what he was looking for.

He was sitting at his normal table, steaming cup of coffee at his elbow and a newspaper held loosely in his hands. His eyes lazily scanned the articles, then flicked up to glance out of the window, and then would go back to the articles.

It was around his third glance up at the window that he saw the man. He was a tall man with thick, heavy arms and tree trunks for legs. The only distinguishing feature about the man was his face, or rather, his eyes. Whilst his face wasn't actually large; the small, beady eyes made his face look far too big.

Those beady black eyes were currently following Saito-san as she made her way around the coffee shop, tending to the needs of her customers. The man's hands were clenched into fists, and his lips were slowly curling up to reveal bared teeth. The man rather reminded him of a brutish animal.

Suddenly the beady eyes snapped to him, and Shinichi was forced to deploy his acting skills (naturally inherited from his mother, of course) and made a rather canny impression of being completely bewildered. He gave the man an odd look, made a show of looking round the coffee shop as though to see if the man was actually glaring at someone else, and then turned his attention back.

The man was gone.

Saito-san smiled at him as she passed him on her way back to the kitchen, though there was a troubled glint in her eyes "I'm sorry, but did you see...? For a second there I could have sworn I saw a man outside the window, did you by any chance...?"

"I think there may have been someone." Shinichi replied truthfully, lying to make her feel better would not help the situation if the man was as dangerous as he appeared to be "I don't think he was there for that long. Why? Was he bothering you?"

"No. No. Of course not, Kudo-kun, don't be silly." The smile didn't reach her eyes as she continued her rounds back to the kitchen. Shinichi didn't blame her, the smile on his own face which had been placed there to comfort her, quickly became frosty.

The man was clearly angry, and Shinichi, whilst being primarily a murder detective, abhorred crime of any nature (although he found himself hating to admit that magician thieves seemed to be an exception to that rule). And whilst the man's intentions were unclear, those hadn't been friendly thoughts being hidden behind those cruel eyes. Violence was certainly going to play a part in this, and abuse was still a crime.

* * *

Apparently it took a lot more than Kid had originally thought for Kudo to put in another appearance at one of his heists. He had tried (unsuccessfully) for the better part of three months now to get Kudo to show up. And all he had to show for his efforts was an overly frustrated Inspector and a bewildered Task Force, neither of which seemed prepared for the sudden cryptic twist his heist notices had taken. It was hardly his fault; these would probably be no problem for them had Kudo shown up to help, but as it was, the teen detective had shown no further interest in catching the elusive Phantom Thief.

He had tried to do everything he had on the Clock Tower heist. From over publicising the heists like he had at the Clock Tower, to using the same methods to sneak in and steal the jewel as he had on that same night; and yet nothing worked. He had to be missing something because **something** had to have attracted Kudo's attention to that particular heist; but what was it?

As another uneventful heist came to a close, Kid opened his hang-glider and began to soar over the tops of the buildings. With a wince he hoped there were no young children in the crowd of spectators that night, he must have been over a mile away and he could still hear the explosion of colourful words that was streaming from Nakamori's mouth. He had left the Inspector back on the rooftop of the building the heist had taken place in, and clearly the Inspector wasn't happy about it (did he forget to mention that the roof wasn't supposed to be accessed, and therefore there was no normal way- stairs, elevators, etc- for the Inspector to get down? No? Well he forget to mention it to the Inspector before he 'magicked' them up there as well).

But he was sidetracked from his original thoughts, and Kid turned to frown unhappily up at the night sky '_Just why did you show up on that heist, Kudo? What's going on inside your mind?'_

_'Oh my god, please kill me!' _For the first time since he could remember, Shinichi was desperately looking forward to the inevitable moment when the three of them would arrive at school. Once there he would be able to come up with some excuse to part company with the two girls; his two primary options being some research he had to do in the library, or that he was going to play football with the team before school started. Because he was pretty sure that if he stayed with them for much longer he would lose too many braincells to consider being a detective a viable career option...

"I wonder whether he'll notice me tonight? Do you think he will? Oh, I'm so worried! I totally need to get a new dress to make sure he can't keep his eyes off of me, don't you think Ran?" Sonoko _actually _paused to allow Ran time to respond, something which shocked the teenage detective greatly as Sonoko had so far seemed to disregard even the need to breath so as to continue her rant uninterrupted.

"I'm sure he'll notice you, Sonoko." Ran responded complacently, looking as though she wasn't sure whether or not to laugh at the frenzy her friend had worked herself up into.

The blame for the Suzuki heir's current obsessive state lay entirely with their very own local Phantom Thief, better known as Kaitou Kid. Who had, just last night, delivered a notice to Sonoko's father. The man had immediately contacted Nakamori who, along with the ever faithful Taskforce, was doing his utmost to solve the code. Despite this, the only part the man had actually understood was that the heist would take part later tonight.

The way Shinichi figured, Kid would be in and out with the jewel and probably lounging around at his home (wherever that was), by the time Nakamori realized what Kid was trying to steal. It was mostly Shinichi's fault actually, for as far as he could tell, the heist notices hadn't become complicated riddles until he had attended that Clock Tower heist a few months ago. Since then the man had been developing migraines at the very mention of Kid notices.

Still, Shinichi couldn't entirely be to blame, he had only attended the one heist and had forgone going to any since, because he feared the price he paid might be his sanity. The heists wouldn't drive him insane, no they were fun and challenged him in a new, refreshing way. What would drive him insane was Sonoko demanding to know every little detail of the heist after he attended it. After the interrogation she gave him about the Clock Tower incident he was more than prepared to say he had never even heard of Kid if it meant the teenage girl would refrain from grilling him about the thief's looks, personality and whatever else she may think important.

Shinichi noticed with relief that the school gates were in sight "Hey, I think I'm going to go on ahead and get in a quick game of football-" He yelped and stopped suddenly as both girl's (they had been walking in front of him) whirled around to face him and gave him twin glares "-What have I done this time?"

"Baka, it's not what you've done-" Ran started angrily, her hands on her hips and looking dangerously close to practising one of her new karate moves on him.

"- it's what you haven't done!" Sonoko finished, adopting the same stance Ran had, despite not knowing a thing about karate. Not that it mattered to Shinichi, despite normally taking note of every little detail, whether or not the person knew karate or not didn't matter, he just took one look at that stance and his mind screamed danger "You haven't offered to solve the heist notice, I won't even get to meet Kid if someone doesn't solve the notice!"

Shinichi stared at them both in shock, since when had Ran cared whether or not he went after Kid? And why did they both automatically expect him to help them, despite knowing he had steered clear of everything Kid related since the Clock Tower heist? His mind quickly provided him with the only argument he had in his defence "But, Nakamori-keibu had the heist notice, how am I supposed to solve a code I don't have?"

"You should have asked then!" Sonoko fished into her pocket and pulled out a crumpled up piece of paper, which she promptly shoved into his grip.

He blinked down in surprise, before opening up the paper and gaping. It was apparently a copy of the notice that had been sent to Sonoko's father, one that Sonoko must have made in preparation of having him solve it. He was tempted to scowl, apparently his co-operation in this Kid heist hadn't been exactly optional. With a sigh he focused his attention onto the heist notice and the contents that had stumped the Inspector famous for chasing Kid.

_Once in a Blue Moon,  
__At a domed tent designed for celebration,  
__In the presence of your first born child,  
__(The one of dreams)  
__I'll slip out of the ordinary  
__Heart (Kaitou Kid caricature)_

"Well I understand how he managed to deduce that the heist was planned for tonight, in fact I'm impressed that Nakamori-keibu got that far." Shinichi murmured after a while, his eyebrows were slightly drawn together and his eyes narrowed in concentration.

"That's great and everything, but do you mind explaining it to us simple-minded, non-detective-geek people?" Sonoko asked, her voice heavily laced with sarcasm.

Shinichi raised his head from the notice long enough to glare at her, before returning his attention to it again "The first line; Once in a Blue Moon. It's a phrase used to say something that happens rarely. But there is such a thing as an actual blue moon. Because the solar and lunar calendars are slightly different, occasionally a year has thirteen full moons instead of the standard twelve. The rare thirteenth full moon is called a 'blue moon'. And tonight happens to be one such Blue Moon."

"Oh, I see!" Ran laughed "Wow, Nakamori-keibu must be good at solving codes if he managed to figure that out!"

"Or he happened to glance at a calendar today." Shinichi muttered "Calendars with large spaces for the days, like the ones that police use to record lots of information, are usually full of facts like this, so it wouldn't have been a far leap for Nakamori-keibu to make."

"And?" Sonoko demanded impatiently "What does the second line mean?"

"'At a domed tent designed for celebration', the wording makes it seem as though Kid is giving the location of the heist, but in reality he is giving the time. There was a dome built in London a few years ago to celebrate an important occasion; the new millennium. It was the year 2000, which in time would be 20:00. So it means that the heist will take pace at eight pm tonight." Shinichi explained, he was rather impressed with this notice- the only reason he had worked out that the second line was reference to the time was because he knew the third and fourth lines were the ones which gave the location.

"Wow, I see, no wonder Nakamori-keibu was having trouble. This one is really difficult!" Ran once again commented, her face pulled into thought.

"The next two lines are the ones that give the actual location. 'In the presence of your first born child, (The one of dreams)', automatically you would think of Sonoko's sister. But as long as we assume Kid doesn't mean that he dreams about Sonoko's sister, and we can cross her off anyway because Suzuki-san is travelling at the moment and is in another country, then it must refer to another child, a child of dreams. Or to put it another way, a brain child. He is actually referring to your father's company. He was the one who came up with the idea of it and started the company from scratch. Therefore you have your location- the Suzuki Company Office in Tokyo, as that is the only one where they are displaying jewels at the moment." Shinichi paused in his explanation to once more run over the last line.

Sonoko immediately exclaimed "Thank goodness! I was so sure he meant my sister! I was so worried that Kid-sama wanted my sister! Oh, but I wish Kid-sama would acknowledge me."

Ran patted her friends shoulder sympathetically and offered the optimistic reply "He did say first born child, which means he is aware of the Suzuki children and didn't want them to confuse that for you. Therefore he must have noticed you at some point or else he wouldn't know to include that in his notice would he?"

As Sonoko perked up, Shinichi mentally rolled his eyes. '_Even if he didn't know about her it wouldn't take much effort on his part to research it.'_

"So, what does the last line mean, it must say what he's going to steal right?" Ran asked Shinichi, both girls returning their attention to the teenage detective. Almost bitterly Shinichi thought _'Funny how being a detective makes me a geek until they need me to solve something for them.' _He was quick to shake the thought away, it was left over emotion from the coffee shop case, that was all. The sighting of that man was becoming more and more regular, but Shinichi could do nothing until the man actually made a move to do something illegal. It was often that Shinichi felt so useless and he didn't much like it.

"No, it tells us where he's coming from. 'I'll slip out of the ordinary' simply means that he will be disguised as an ordinary civilian before donning his costume and becoming the extraordinary Kid." Shinichi explained "In fact, what he is going to steal also can be taken from the first line of the notice. Sonoko at the jewel exhibit taking part tonight at your father's company, is there going to be a Moonstone shown?"

Sonoko paused thoughtfully before nodding "Yes, I think it's called Silverlight."

"There you have it then, on the night of the Blue moon, he will steal the blue-silver coloured moonstone from the Suzuki Company Office in Tokyo at eight pm." Shinichi explained, handing the notice back to the beaming fangirl.

"Great! This means we know when and where it is! Now all we have to do is tell Nakamori-keibu and have Kudo-kun catch the thief so that I can declare my undying love to him!" Sonoko squealed, her eyes shining with happiness at the thought of finally meeting her 'Kid-sama'.

Ran was nodding along and smiling with Sonoko's plan, but Shinichi's head snapped up and he demanded "Since when am I attending this Kid heist?"

"Since now." Ran glared at him and then her expression became sweet, but there was still that undertone of danger behind it "You've forgotten what day it is, haven't you? It's Sonoko's birthday, and as the only gift she wants is to get close to Kid, you're going to help her do that... understand?"

Shinichi froze as he became the focus of Ran's most dangerous glare, before jerkily nodding his head in compliance. It was with relief that he heard the start of school bell ringing and with a choked "See you later" called back over his shoulder, he was quickly running ahead of the two girls in an effort to both get away and get to class on time.

… Why did those two gang up on him? He wasn't going to Kid heists for self-preservation reasons. Mainly, saving himself from Sonoko. And now it was Sonoko who was forcing him to go to a Kid heist! Shinichi sighed as he entered the classroom and slumped down at his desk; not that it mattered overly, it seemed he was going to a Kid heist tonight whether he liked it or not.

* * *

Kid laughed as he dodged the Taskforce's latest dogpile on the bandit tactics. He leapt out of the way of a repeat attempt a second later as well, and then proceeded on his journey towards the roof. From which he would make his usual escape.

He did have to give Nakamori credit this time though. The Inspector had figured out Kid's disguise in record breaking time and officers had been chasing him within seconds of him having gotten near the jewel. It was refreshing, having them so confident and quick witted tonight. After that one run-in with Kudo Shinichi, the next few heists had seemed dull and monotonous in comparison, so it was good that the pace was picking back up again.

His eyes widened as he turned a corner into a corridor and found an ambush waiting for him. With twists and flips any gymnastic would be proud of he retreated back and took a second corridor; the officers who had been lying in wait were quick to join the officers who had already been chasing him.

_Nakamori-keibu is __**really**__ on the ball toni-! _Kid momentarily paused at the startling familiarity of those words, he had last thought that about the Inspector at the Clock Tower heist... when in fact it had actually been Kudo who had been able to counteract and even predict him. _Does that mean...?_

As he ran passed a window, Kid threw a sharp look outside at the night sky; nothing was there, the air space had been cleared for his heist tonight and so no helicopters were present. Which meant that Kudo was somewhere in the building, somewhere where he must be able to see all of Kid's movements, as he certainly wasn't one of the people chasing him. So the most likely conclusion would be the security room; which was the room where all the feed from the security cameras went.

Out of the corner of his eye he noticed one of the officers chasing him raise their hand to push the earpiece they were wearing in more securely. For the officer to have noticed that the earpiece wasn't secured properly, something must have drawn attention to it. The most likely conclusion, therefore, was that someone was talking to the officer; and considering how efficient the officers were tonight, that someone was probably Kudo.

Kid slipped on his own earpiece and tuned it to the police frequency, just in time to catch the end of the instruction "-ack and check on the... Nakamori-keibu shoul... es off him." Kid frowned momentarily before brightening considerably; whilst he hadn't been able to hear what the orders were due to some kind of interference, he had certainly heard enough to identify the owner of the voice.

Kudo had decided to join in on this heist after all then.

It was only unfortunate that the other teen had chosen to lock himself away again instead of joining in on the actual chase; that would have been a thrill.

_But why this heist, Meitantei-san? What's the connection between this one and the Clock Tower heist? _Kid was rapidly approaching the stairs, and as they were a set of spiral staircases that led straight to the roof, it wouldn't be long before he reached it. It was also undoubtedly where he would encounter Nakamori, would Kudo show himself there?

Shinichi frowned as he watched Kid outmanoeuvre the ambush he had had the officers set up. It wasn't much of a surprise that something so simple hadn't thrown the thief off guard, but it was still irritating to say the least.

As Kid continued to run towards the place where he planned to escape from (the roof unsurprisingly), Shinichi flicked on his headset and spoke into the inbuilt microphone "Once Kid reaches the staircase, double back and check on the doors and windows; make sure all of them are locked and guarded. I don't want him slipping back down and out should he change his mind about the roof. Nakamori-keibu should already be in place on the rooftop. But until you reach the staircase, don't take your eyes off of him."

Shinichi's eyes flickered over to the thief again and almost groaned when he saw an earpiece in Kid's ear; great, now the thief knew everything they said over the communicators.

He forego warning the officers about this, Kid would likely have some other means of discovering the tricks the officers planned to use (not that they had planned to use anything at this point). Instead he observed the way Kid slipped in and out of the shadows, dancing and weaving into the background so that it was very hard to locate him against the stark whiteness of the walls.

The thief was talented at what he did; Shinichi would give him that. But it seemed mostly repeats; the same old tricks repeated time and time again. Kid would disguise himself, would goad the officers into chasing him all over the building, then would perform a dare devil jump off of the building and activate his hang-glider to get away.

And despite all this, the Task Force fell for his tricks each and every time.

Why was that? The thief hadn't changed anything as far as Shinichi could see; apart from the fact that at this heist he was actually stealing a jewel.

As Shinichi was contemplating the apparent uselessness of the Task Force, one of said Task Force members gave out a startled cry. Shinichi glanced sharply up at the cameras and then blinked. Kid had vanished.

As Shinichi's eyes scanned over the various screens, desperately trying to locate an oddity in one of the images, the officers started a mini panic between themselves. Each wondering what would happen if Kid never showed up at Nakamori's waiting place.

They needn't have worried. A second later, Kid's head dropped down from top of the screens. His face was pressed close up to the security camera and he was offering the device a cheeky grin. A second later and that grin was completed with a wink and a mouthed out "Greetings, Kudo-kun."

As Shinichi blinked bemusedly at the screen, the officers in the security room with him leapt into action and started relaying to the officers doing the actual chasing that they had to look up and at the walls above where the security cameras were stationed.

As the thief once more took of running towards the staircase, eagerly dancing in and out of the officers' reaches as he did so, Shinichi continued to stare almost blankly at the screen. Thankfully, the officers in the security room with him were far too focused on the chase to notice him. A few moments later and his blue eyes lit up with humour and his lips curled upwards into a small half-smile.

Whilst he had no doubt that Kid's strange greeting had meant to offend him, or at the very least make him irate (the detectives working on this case all seemed prone to easy offending and annoyance.) All he could see through the unnatural hello, was that Kid had a sense of humour and that he was clever enough to not only notice his presence on the heist, but also pinpoint his location.

Shinichi raised the microphone to his mouth in order to start helping out the officers once more. They had all become rather confused when Kid had vanished for a second time in a cloud of smoke, completely missing the fact that there was now one more officer than there should be running around with them.

Even as he told them about the false officer in their midst, he watched as Kid laughed and flashed a grin at the camera, before throwing down another smoke bomb and racing out ahead of the other officers.

"Ok, he's heading towards the staircase again, cover your mouths and walk slowly in the direction you're facing." Shinichi shot the officer beside him a surprised look at the instruction the man gave, but decided to let it slide. If the man wanted to cause chaos by having the men all walk in whatever direction they were currently facing then so be it.

Shinichi took control of the screens in front of him, switching them all to show different sections of the staircases. Kid had just reached the first one and was in the process of setting up trip wires. At the speed he placed them Shinichi wouldn't be surprised if there was one for every member of the Task Force waiting by the time the officers got there.

"Oi, Kudo! What's going on?" Nakamori's voice growled out of the communicator. It seemed the man was through waiting for the thief.

"Kid has set off a smoke bomb in the hall leading to the staircases, Nakamori-keibu. It's confused your officers who have forgone chasing Kid in an effort to get themselves out of the smoke. Unfortunately I'm not familiar with the men's names nor numbers well enough to be able to guide them all through." Shinichi explained, wincing as the man's curses became more pronounced "As it is Kid is heading slowly up the stairs towards you, keibu."

"Alright." The man replied shortly. The Inspector then went on to mutter about teenage detectives and how they should leave Kid to him. Apparently the Inspector had forgotten to flip the off switch on his communicator. Rolling his eyes, Shinichi decided it would be too much of an effort and too much of a waste of time to take offence.

He had a feeling that this heist had just gotten out of his control. Nakamori-keibu was the one used to dealing with Kid before his dramatic exit, and he had no doubt that the Inspector would refuse any help from him or would flat out ignore any of his suggestions. Therefore the thief's capture seemed to rely entirely in Nakamori-keibu's hands, and judging from past experiences, that didn't bode well for them.

* * *

Kid set up his last trip wire, triumphant grin being flashed towards the camera and the teenage detective he knew to be on the other end of it. It didn't matter how well Kudo advised the officers now, he was out of his playing field.

Kudo knew nothing about Kid's officers, he would barely have had time to learn their names, let alone their numbers. This was of course, relying on the fact that Nakamori had even bothered to introduce his officers to a 'meddling teenage detective'. Chances were he hadn't.

Which would mean that Kudo had no means to lead the officers through the smoke, and by the time they got to the staircases, they would all be so annoyed at him they would charge straight ahead, despite any warning Kudo might give them. Which ensured that his trip wires would be put to good use tonight.

Leaping up the rest of the stairs, Kid threw open the rooftop door and was met with the sight of Nakamori standing there waiting for him, with an oddly smug look on his face. Kid had no doubt that it had nothing to do with a secret plan he had missed, so therefore it was probably the Inspector feeling smug for having worked out that he would escape from the roof and that he had beaten the thief there.

"Good evening, Keibu." Kid greeted smoothly. He subtly glanced around but found that there were no security cameras observing the rooftop. Kudo would be absent from this part of the heist both physically and mentally then; he couldn't tell the Task Force how to act if he couldn't first see how Kid was acting.

"Kid." The Inspector ground his teeth together in fury, it took all of his self restraint to not start yelling at the thief.

Kid shot him a smirk, held the jewel up in plain sight, and started towards the roofs edge. At the sight of the clear taunts, Nakamori snapped. With an enraged shout he flew forwards, hands outstretched to grab at the thief- and promptly tripped over his own feet. With a startled yelp the Inspector observed his feet incredulously; as though blaming them for some kind of criminal act.

It was whilst glaring at his feet that the Inspector discovered why they had been the cause of him tripping; his shoelaces from his left shoe had been tried with the shoelaces on his right shoe. '_Of all the juvenile behaviour and tricks I've seen... this one tops them all.'_

Kid laughed from his perch on top of the small wall that ran the roofs edge. "Forgive me, Keibu, but with the heist progressing so quickly tonight I had very little time for any of my tricks. As such I felt the need to compensate; even if the compensation is but a small trick."

"KID!" Nakamori leapt to his feet and was about to race forwards again, when he froze. He was not about to trip over twice because of the thief, especially not because of the same trick.

"That's all for this performance, I'm afraid, Keibu. But no fret, it won't be long before you next hear from me." Kid turned away and pulled out the switch to activate his glider. Almost as an afterthought, he turned his head to glance over his shoulder at the Inspector "Oh, and tell Kudo-kun from me-" Kid pressed the switch down and leapt off of the building as his infamous glider made an appearance. He shouted back over his shoulder "Welcome to the game."

* * *

Xialdon: And that's it! Chapter Three done, and I hope everyone likes it! Again, I am so sorry for the long wait and I hope to get Chapter Four out much, much sooner. And now to thank all of the lovely, kind people you took the time to review Chapter Two for me!

**SecondtoNon: **I'm glad you're glad I updated :). I hope you're as glad this time!

**Daisuke Kazamatsuri: **Ahh, you're name gives me nightmares! No, I'm only joking, I just have to keep switching back to the review page to check I'm spelling it right :). Thank you for the kind review, and yeah, that is weird. I noticed that when I first watched the series, and I went through it all again just to make sure I wasn't remembering anything wrong. So I'll be trying to fix up that little mistake in this story at some point! Again, thank you for taking the time to review.

**Fates Illusion: **Aww, I did enjoy my trip thanks. And thank you for your review. As you can see from this chapter, Saito is just going to be a lingering character, her story will end soon enough, but believe me she will lurk in the background and make a small reappearance near the end. And I'm so sorry, it's been more like three weeks instead of two :/

**Kuroshiro-Kai: **Your review made me laugh so much. I checked on my reviews in the airport about an hour before our plane took off, and when I saw your review I started laughing, so I accomplished in scaring my mum too (you have to admit, it's a fun thing to do!). And thanks, I did enjoy my time in America, I went to Florida and it was great! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter just as much as you did the last. So here's "moar" *grins".

**NekoHatake: **No problem! Thanks for reading :). Hope you're just as happy with this update!

**luminousSpark: **Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it and it made you laugh. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.

**RAGA: **Thank you for review, I hope this one's better because Shinichi's back on Kid's case. :). No Kaishin yet I'm afraid, but they're just getting to know each other, shouldn't be too long now though.

**Vixen Egypt: **Thanks. :). You'll have to wait and see if there's going to be Conan, I'm afraid. Can't give too much away. Sorry for the long wait in updating, hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**bb-s: **Thank you! I had both a fun and safe trip :). And I am so sorry I did not hold to my promise, I really did want to get it up sooner and I will try much harder to get the next one up sooner. Hope you enjoyed the new chapter.

**simply anonymous: **Thank you for your kind review! No Sonoko and Shinichi arguing in this chapter I don't think, but there was Sonoko and Ran ganging up on Shinichi, so I hope that was good enough. The murder was a good idea... hmm, and I think you've just given me possible furture chapter/ story ideas, I'll have to think on that... Lol, no I thought possible deaths threats, as in, deaths threats against Shinichi, may scare him into going :). Hope you enjoyed the new chapter.

**FallenAngelYamiHikari: **Aww, thank you, I try! I hope you had as much fun with this chapter as you did with the last one.

**Shinigami: **That is another good idea... Hmm, the possibilities of Kaito stalking Shinichi through Beika. I'm afraid the poor detective would have a heart attack seeing a new person (Kid in disguise) stalking him each day. Well you were semi right, Sonoko was the contributing factor, and Kaito unknowingly enlisted her help by sending a notice to her father! I hope you enjoyed this chapter :)

**kuroange1: **I'm afraid you fell for my trap :). Saito is just so paranoid she begins to get jumpy at any man with a slightly forceful personality. There's no black org in the story yet, remeber this is back based in the memory events from episode 219, Shinichi hasn't met the organisation yet and they probably won't be inluded until he does officially meet them at the theme park.. if they appear at all. Anyway, I'm glad it got you thinking about Saito's situation, I like reviewers who question and think about things! Hope you enjoyed this chapter :)

**Renkin-chan: **Aww, thank you! And don't be so hard on yourself, I absolutely love your Detective Conan story! :). I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well!

**A Neverending Dream Of Flight: **Thank you so much! I loved this review so much, and I'm so glad someone enjoyed my story so much. I don't feel that I deserve all of your wonderful comments, but I do hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as you've enjoyed the others! :).

**Kage Hasu: **The point of the story is to find out what Kaito wants, believe me it should be around chapter ten, or was it eleven? Anyway around then you should found out what he wants. As for Conan, I won't reveal whether or not Shinichi becomes Conan, but again you'll find out eventually. And no, this is definitely a Kaito x Shinichi story, although to start with there will be other pairings, including hints of Ran x Shinichi and Aoko x Kaito. I hope this doesn't put you off and that you enjoyed this new chapter.

**Raven the Joker: **I'm so glad it made you laugh! It makes me feel good to know that somewhere out there, there's someone enjoying what I've written! I hope you enjoy this chapter just as much, and maybe even squeal some more :).

**Amy-sama90: **Glad you like it and thanks for your review! Hope you enjoy this chapter just as much!

Xialdon: Well that's it for now. Hope you all enjoyed this new chapter and I hope to hear from you all again! I swear I'll work much harder on posting the next update much sooner! See you all soon.


	4. Banned

Xialdon: Well, here's the next chapter, I told you it ould be out quicker than the last one! :) I hope you all enjoy! And I will apologise in advance... you'll see why after you've read it!

* * *

Shinichi nibbled on his bottom lip thoughtfully as he scribbled down a few observations he had made over the course of the heist. It wasn't as though he could do much else but take notes now, seeing as the roof had a distinct lack of security cameras. Nakamori-keibu was in it alone on this one, and Shinichi had the feeling that that was how the man preferred it anyway.

Kid was smart. Shinichi had noted that from the first heist he had gone up against the thief in. But in this one he had certainly proved that he could not only think, but he could think on his feet.

The thief had been all too quick to notice that there was something different about this heist, and he had been even quicker to discover that Shinichi was the one controlling the actions of the Task Force; who were normally extraordinarily abysmal at their jobs. In fact, the only good thing Shinichi could think to say about them was that they were extraordinarily persistent, although in this case he doubted that all the persistence in the world would do them much good if they didn't have the quick thinking required to outsmart Kid.

As lost in his thoughts as he was, Shinichi didn't immediately notice the sudden change in atmosphere around the room. The other men that were working in the security room alongside him had gone quiet all of a sudden, and they all appeared to be straining their ears and throwing nervous glances at the door. Shinichi soon discovered why; the sound of heavy footfalls making their way down the hallway to the security room could just be heard through the reinforced door. Said door was suddenly thrown open with such a tremendous force that it swung round a one hundred and eighty degree angle, smacked into the wall, bounced back and swung closed with a large thump.

In the split second that the door had been open, Shinichi had caught sight of Nakamori's dark silhouette against the glare of the hallway lights. Despite being a rationally thinking detective, even Shinichi had to admit that the scene reminded him of something from a horror film; where the villain's silhouette was cast in a doorway by the thunder and lightening outside, and he couldn't quite stop himself from imagining the roll of the thunder and playing the theme tune to Jaws inside his head. Which apparently fit quite well, as the man's eyes locked in on him and he stormed across the room so quickly that he was already in front of Shinichi and looming over the teenage detective before the door even had a chance to swing shut again. Therefore it was not Nakamori who took a door to the face, but the rather unfortunate Task Force officer who had been following behind the Inspector.

Although it may have been his imagination, Shinichi was sure that he heard the sound of the man crashing to the floor after the heavy wooden door bounced back at him. A quick surveillance of the other men's faces and he was sure that they had either all imagined the same sound, or they had all heard the same sound. He was willing to bet it was the latter. In which case he felt extraordinarily sorry for whoever had been following behind the Inspector when the door swung shut, not that the Inspector seemed to notice.

The Inspector's eyes were like ice as they stared down at the seated detective, and Shinichi found himself leaning backwards instinctively to put some room between him and the standing Inspector who towered over him enough when he was standing as well. The Inspector's eyes narrowed further and his eyebrows were drawn tightly together by the frown that was set on his face. At that moment, Shinichi decided that Kid must be either a deranged lunatic, or just plain suicidal to want to go up against this man. Or that could just be because at this moment Nakamori reminded Shinichi of Ran's father whenever Shinichi brought her back slightly after the time that they had agreed upon.

"Inspector?" The teenage sleuth questioned. Any other person would have shown extreme hesitance in the face of an outright furious Nakamori. But Shinichi wasn't just any person, and he knew that he had a hard enough time getting adults to listen to a teenager on a crime scene as it was- showing any sign of nervousness around them would only reaffirm their low opinions of him. His pride also wouldn't allow him to show any hesitance, as it had already taken a rather heavy beating when convincing the man to let him on the heist, which had been a tremendously difficult task, even with the backing of Sonoko's parents.

"He got away." The Inspector grunted through clenched teeth, addressing both the detective and the loitering Task Force officers who were gathered a distance behind him. As one the men sighed, dejectedly turning to trudge their way out of the small room. Leaving just him and Nakamori left, both lit up by the flickering monitors which were still displaying empty hallways. Shinichi wasn't sure that there was really anything else that needed to be said, but Nakamori continued anyway "He left a message for you."

Shinichi's eyebrow rose of its own accord and he had immense trouble suppressing the incredulous look that threatened to cross his face "A message... for me?"

Nakamori allowed a smile to cross his face and Shinichi immediately grimaced- it was the smile Ran's father normally wore before he either yelled or attempted to murder his daughter's best friend. He had a feeing that the two men's opinions of him were one and the same. i.e. they did **not** like him. "Kid said, and I quote 'Welcome to the game.'"

The Inspector leaned over the teenager and braced his hands on the wall behind the younger male. Shinichi immediately recognised the intimidating techniques the Inspector was using, his mind automatically cataloguing all possible escape routes, even as he slumped down slightly in his seat. Merely being able to recognise the techniques used was not enough to stop them from taking effect after all. The Inspector spoke in a gravelly voice again "Kid may have already accepted you as a reoccurring presence on these heists, but I do not share the same delusions. This will be the last time I see you on a heist as anything but a member of the crowd showing up to watch the thief- understand?"

Shinichi scowled at the fact that he was being treated like an eight year old. He was not a little kid, and he knew how to act on crime scenes, he had been on enough of them. But he knew that there was nothing he could do or say to argue his case without sounding like a child of the age he was being treated as. He had nothing to show from his attempts at helping the Task Force- Kid got away when they chased him on their own, Kid got away when he helped them. To Nakamori, who was very adamant that he would be the one to catch Kid, he was merely another unwanted presence.

Instead Shinichi forced a nod and smoothly stood up, forcing the Inspector to back up a few paces "Of course, Nakamori-keibu. I wasn't very sure myself whether I would show up at the next heist or not, thank you for making my decision easier for me."

Shinichi bit back a snort at the Inspector's surprised face, clearly the man had been expecting him to whine like a little brat over the unfairness of not being able to attend another Kid heist. Well he certainly wasn't going to do that, he was going to walk out of here like the professional detective that he was. At fifteen years old, he was already well on the way to building up a reputation for himself as a detective, and he was going to continue to uphold that reputation.

"If you would be so kind, however, as to explain to the person who keeps forcing me to attend these heists, why I will not be able to do so in the future?" Shinichi raised an eyebrow at the Inspector, who, in his taken aback state, could do nothing but nod his assent. Shinichi breathed out a silent sigh of relief, truly glad that he was not going to be the one who would have to face Sonoko's wrath.

"Great." Shinichi managed to get out, smiling genuinely for the first time since he had been in Nakamori's company "Because I certainly don't want to be the one to do so."

* * *

"What do you mean he's not allowed back?" Sonoko screeched at the Inspector, her hands balled into fists at her sides and her whole body weight thrown behind throwing her voice into Nakamori's face.

"He's only managed to get us marginally closer to catching Kid than when we're on our own. And the point of this is to catch Kid and throw him in jail, not give him more fun at the heists. And Kid has shown that he seems to have more fun when Kudo is here." Nakamori snapped right back.

It made a comical sight; Inspector Nakamori, leader of the Task Force and sworn enemy of the Kaitou Kid, and Sonoko, a fanatic and self-sworn love interest of said Kaitou Kid, locked in a staring and (apparently) a scream-your-lungs-out-at-each-other contest. Sparks seemed to fly from their eyes as they glowered at each other, and Shinichi was impressed that the two had managed to keep the argument at a PG rating so far.

"SO? That's still closer than when you're on your own!" Sonoko snarled back "And you've shown how good you are at catching my Kid-sama already. You can't. Kudo-kun is probably the only one who will be able to catch Kid, and therefore the only one I can rely on to let me get close enough to meet Kid-sama!"

"I will be the one to catch Kaitou Kid!" Nakamori was quick to snarl back. The Inspector was instantly furious over having his skills as leader of the Kaitou Kid Task Force questioned and he soon tried another of his intimidation tactics by stepping forwards so that he was looking straight down at the teenage girl. Most people would have backed off straight away, Sonoko craned her head back and promptly stuck her tongue out at the offensive Inspector.

A few feet away from the screaming duo, Shinichi and Ran sat slumped in chairs. They were quite normal chairs, Shinichi had noticed straight off, they were the tacky plastic ones that were put out in the lobbies of buildings for people who needed to wait there. Though he doubted that the chairs had been put there with this kind of waiting in mind. Why couldn't his life ever be normal? Why was he the only one that could answer, when asked about what he did yesterday, that he had waited for his friend to finish her fight to the death with an angry police Inspector. Seriously, how many people could honestly give that answer?

Ran was sitting with an embarrassed look on her face, her eyes darting swiftly all over the place to check if anyone was staring at them. Shinichi knew she needn't of worried, everyone within the vicinity was gaping open mouthed at the spectacle Sonoko and Nakamori were making. Ran seemed to come to this conclusion herself, as she refocused her gaze on the screaming duo and was clearly watching the two closely in case anything happened that would get her friend into a lot of trouble.

Shinichi was sitting slumped over more to his side, his elbow resting on the spindly arm of the chair and his head propped up by the hand attached to it. His eyelids felt heavy from both tiredness and boredom, and he had stopped watching the fight a few minutes ago, instead going back to his past time of working out what people did for livings. He found it decidedly harder now that they were all standing stock still and gaping at the arguing pair, all too afraid to brave creeping past them in case they got dragged into the argument.

Off to his side Shinichi heard an older woman tut and mutter "You see, dear? What did I tell you, this is what happens to middle aged men who marry girls who are far too young for them." Shinichi was glad he wasn't drinking anything, otherwise it would have ended up over the pristine white floor of the lobby. As it was he screwed his eyes shut and concentrated on his breathing to keep himself from laughing. The older woman had mistakenly thought that Nakamori and Sonoko were married and that they were merely having a domestic.

"Why did you ask Nakamori to tell Sonoko? You knew she would be furious and attack the messenger, especially in this case as the messenger was also the one that carried out the act." Ran sighed exasperatedly and cast questioning eyes over her childhood friend. Despite this there was no anger in her gaze, just annoyed resignation that there was no other choice than to sit there and wait. Shinichi had no doubt that she had probably already figured out the answer to her own question.

He found himself answering nonetheless, and raised his eyes to meet hers. "I much prefer having to wait whilst Sonoko screams her lungs out at Nakamori-keibu, than having to wait whilst she screams her lungs out at me."

"Even so..." This seemed to be the answer she was expecting and Ran made no further comment, instead turning her head away and sighing as she once more watched over the screaming match with concerned eyes.

In the time that they had been talking, the match seemed to have progressed to one that involved showing off postures as well. As Sonoko had turned away from the Inspector slightly in order to fold her arms and raise her nose up into the air. At this moment in time, Shinichi felt that she looked every bit the rich daughter that she had been raised to be, and he had trouble working out who he wanted to win the match. It was clear by Nakamori's slowly purpling face just what the man thought of Sonoko adopting such a pose.

With a final yell on the part of Nakamori, and a stunned look on the part of the three teenagers, said teenagers found themselves carted out onto the street by the security guards. Shinichi wasn't entirely sure how that had worked, seeing as for one; he had Ran hadn't actually been doing anything, and for two; Sonoko's parents owned that building- wouldn't they have something to say about the mistreatment of their daughter or something like that? Oh well, he didn't care much either way, just glad that he was now out of that building.

"Well... that went well." Was Shinichi's sarcastic comment on the events that had just taken place "Can we go home now? I have to go to police station in the morning to clear up some points on a murder case that I solved the other day."

Ran nodded and tugged on Sonoko's arm "Come on, there's no use arguing any more. We can still come and watch the heists, but you'll just have to hope to catch Kid's attention in another way."

Sonoko's shoulders slumped, and with a whine she threw her hands up in the air "But I wanted Kudo-kun to catch Kid-sama so that he could finally see me and realise how perfect we are for each other!"

Shinichi rolled his eyes and started walking ahead of the two girls, confident that they would follow. Sure enough, a second later he heard Ran's voice start comforting the distraught fangirl, followed by two sets of footsteps heading in the direction he was walking.

* * *

"...Naka- Nakamori-keibu?"

Nakamori sighed wearily and ran the tips of his fingers back through his hair in an attempt to calm himself. Aoko would certainly not approve; she had been frustrated with him for weeks over the state of his hair when he appeared on TV. Most of the time he could blame it on chasing after Kid; today it was because he was so aggravated- and Kid hadn't even appeared yet!

"I'm going to assume that you will say something along the lines of 'They're still here.'" Nakamori glanced at the officer, who nodded nervously in response. With another sigh, Nakamori eased himself out of the chair and marched purposefully towards the door.

Once he had passed through it, it was simply a matter of navigating his way down a corridor, before he entered the lobby of the building. Gathered in which were the three teenagers who were currently getting on his last nerve.

"Haven't I already told you three to clear off?" Nakamori growled as he marched over, his eyes narrowed more challengingly upon the girl who had stood up from where they were seated to face him off. Out of the three, she was the one he had to worry about the most.

"We're not leaving!" Sonoko growled, stomping her foot for emphasis "It was an outrage when you banned Kudo-kun from the last heist, but I very graciously accepted it!"

Nakamori noticed that he was not the only one to roll his eyes at this point- most of the Task Force, and surprisingly enough, the teenage detective slumped in his seat behind the teenage girl, rolled their eyes as well.

"But you weren't able to solve the heist notice! If it hadn't been for Kudo phoning you up at the last minute and telling you what it meant you wouldn't even be here right now! And yet you still don't let him try and help to catch the thief? I want to meet Kid-sama!" Sonoko's hands came to rest on her hips and she leaned her body weight forwards in an attempt to intimidate the Inspector "Sooo, what are you going to do about it?"

"Nothing. You are either going to leave of your own free will, or I shall have you arrested and taken away for interfering with police matters." Nakamori had neither the patience nor the will to deal with this directly before a Kid heist.

"Sonoko, come on." The other girl stood up now, and gently tugged on her friend's arm "I for one, do not want to get arrested today. We can still watch the heist from outside!"

Nakamori watched as Kudo-kun stood up as well and stretched himself out, before starting a leisurely stroll over to the door "I told you that dragging us here would be a waste of time, now all the transport in the local area has been closed down for the heist- so I can't even go home until it's over!"

Sonoko snarled and stormed after the bored detective, spewing off insults and hissing something about him ruining her chance of getting them onto the actual heist scene.

The remaining teen, Mouri-san, he believed, cast him an apologetic look before quickly trotting after her two retreating friends.

Nakamori groaned and raised a hand to massage his oncoming headache- all this and Kid hadn't even shown up yet. He had a feeling that tonight was going to be a bad night for him.

* * *

In order to show her anger and defiance over the situation, Sonoko had proceeded to elbow and squeeze herself, her friend and the tag along (as she lovingly referred to an incensed Shinichi) to the front of the crowd. Where she proceeded to give the nervous Task Force officers the 'evil eye'.

Shinichi had to admit that he was impressed over the way Sonoko had the Task Force officers all shrinking back in fear. Although, seeing as she did the same to him, he really hadn't got much to laugh about.

Ran seemed to readily put up with her friend's antics, and was prepared to stand there and simply wait for the heist to start. Shinichi doubted she was as uninterested as she seemed, he knew that even Ran got slightly worked up over a Kid heist. But no doubt she was keeping a neutral face because Shinichi would turn on his heel and walk the thirty or so miles home if faced with the prospect of two teen-aged fangirls on his hands.

He smiled at her slightly in thanks, but could tell that she didn't understand his abrupt change in mood when she gave him a curious look. She smiled back nonetheless, but Shinichi's mood had already deteriorated again.

Sometime it felt like there was no one who could truly understand him. Ran was the closest anyone had gotten, but it seemed as though his mind was out of tune with the rest of the world. He could make links between things that most other people seemed incapable of making and his thoughts ran on a process that no one could keep up with.

He wished there was someone who could understand him as an individual, rather than look to him as a detective. Because sometime he wondered whether Ran saw the detective before she saw the person. He didn't blame her, everyone seemed to do the same. But still...

Although he did seem to have already met someone whose thought processes matched his own easily. Unfortunately that someone was an internationally wanted criminal, a thief who he had attempted to help capture.

With a sigh, the detective leaned his head back to observe the stars, and wondered whether or not Kid would actually do something about him not attending this heist. Especially after the thief has all but invited him.

He snorted at his own thoughts. Kid would be glad that there were less people after him. The white clad thief wouldn't care in the slightest that Shinichi was no longer present at his heists.

* * *

Kid reminded himself that it would be out of character for him to start bouncing in excitement. And even if there was no one around to see his slip up at the moment, if he dropped the mask whilst in costume at any time at all, there was a possibility he could accidentally do it in front of a crowd. And that could never ever happen.

Despite this, the thief did allow himself to grin excitedly. After all, this was a heist that he had personally invited Kudo to. Or as good as invited him to anyway- he doubted Nakamori would be too impressed if the thief he was trying to capture started to send out invitations to his heists.

Smirking at the thought, Kid turned his attention to his wrist watch. There were only two minutes left until he would appear before his audience. And with any luck, Kudo. Hopefully his parting words at the last heist had been enough to draw Kudo out from the shadows and tempt him into actually playing the game himself.

Once more he resisted the urge to bounce, after all, not only was it out of character, it was also very hard to do whilst crouched inside a ventilation shaft.

Kid had been inside the ventilation shafts for around twenty minutes now and was currently crouched on top of one of the covered openings, which was embedded into the ceiling of the room the jewel was being kept it.

Kid raised his hand again and once more took note of the smallest hand on his watch as it counted down the seconds.

As showman habits had ingrained into him, once the hand reached three seconds to the hour, he began the count down out loud. Not even the knowledge that no one could hear him could prevent this habit.

"Three."

Kid allowed his thoughts to wander wistfully for a moment, ever hopeful for the prospect of a good challenge. He imagined that Kudo might even be at the front of the group of officers clustered around the jewel in the room below, keeping a sharp eye on the jewel and just waiting for the moment in which Kid would appear.

"Two."

Then again, he shouldn't get his hopes up. Going by past experiences there was bound to be a security room or helicopter with Kudo's name on it somewhere. At this moment the detective was probably checking that the communicators were all up and running so that he was able to tell the Task Force officers how to react to whatever situation Kid placed them in.

"One."

Kid debated over whether or not he would hunt Kudo down if the other had hidden himself again. Kid appreciated the competition, he really did, but he preferred it when that competition was challenging him directly.

"Zero."

Kid smirked and raised a gloved hand to drop a smoke bomb. He watched as the small capsule slipped through the gaps in the ventilation cover and fell towards the floor. The second it hit, the entire room was filled with pink smoke and the sound of countless indignant cries ran out.

His face split in two with the size of his grin, Kid drove his heel sharply down onto the ventilation cover. It swung back sharply on its hinges with the force of the kick, and the metallic clang it made when it contacted forcefully with the ceiling set Kid's teeth on edge.

Not even that was enough to wipe the grin off of his face though, and with a flourish he leapt out of the opening and used the cover of the smoke to land on the small platform the jewel had been placed on, unseen.

By the time the smoke had cleared and the Task Force had managed to gain their bearings, Kid had adopted his normal confident pose and was proudly displaying the jewel in his hand for all to see.

"KID!" Nakamori bellowed. The furious Inspector was pointing at the elusive thief and didn't even need to shout the normal command, as the group of officers were all already charging towards him.

With a shout of laughter, the thief slipped off of the platform and out of the nearest doors. Easily dancing just out of the reach of Nakamori. Said Inspector was completely red in the face and steam could almost be seen billowing out of his ears.

"Damn it! Kid!" Nakamori snarled, quickening his pace. Behind him the Task Force followed suit, although they had already managed to get themselves in a tangle of uniformed men; each of them tripping over someone else is their haste.

Kid cast a look back over his shoulder and his eyes narrowed. _'What's going on? Kudo normally has these guys organised!'_

The phantom thief had been disappointed when he had failed to locate Kudo inside the hall with the jewel, he had honestly hoped or a one-on-one with his newest rival. Unfortunately it seemed the detective was more than likely to be hiding inside some room or helicopter somewhere receiving all of the feed from nearby cameras.

Another shout from Nakamori, this one a lot closer than it should have been, had Kid abandoning his thoughts and increasing his pace enough to put the Inspector several feet behind him again. There was no need to get too far ahead, apparently there were no hidden traps this time. All of the men seemed present and chasing him already. Which meant there was no need to get far enough ahead to set traps of his own.

This heist was going to be disappointingly easy. _'What is Kudo playing at? I thought he was all about using tricks such as ambushes and the like... why is he just letting them do the same thing that I've escaped time after time... This is just the same as Nakamori-keibu...'_

Kid felt his eyes widen.

This wasn't just the same as Nakamori. This was Nakamori. And if the Task Force were all listening to Nakamori and just chasing after him again, then didn't that mean that there was no teenage detective present at this heist?

Kid scowled, he knew there was no way that Nakamori-keibu had managed to figure out that heist notice on his own. And Hakuba had only just transferred back to their school from England yesterday, he wouldn't have had the time to look at the heist notice yet, let alone attempt to solve it. In fact, Kid was even more confident that Hakuba hadn't solved the notice as Hakuba's parents had requested that in return for allowing Hakuba to come back to Japan for awhile, he was to slow it down on the Kid side of things. Which Kid was just fine with, so long as Kudo bothered to show up that is.

This led Kid to the conclusion that the detective whose presence had been expected this heist, and who hadn't bothered to show up, must have been the one to solve the heist notice. Did this mean he could now only be bothered to solve the notices, but not actually attend his heists?

Well Kid would see about that! He had found great competition in the young sleuth and he wasn't going to sit there every single heist hoping that the other would show up. If Kudo couldn't be bothered to show up under normal circumstances, then Kid would just have to create circumstances that would **convince **the teenager to show up.

With this new plan in mind, Kid sped up even more and started taking the corners he encountered recklessly, often feinting that he was going to turn left and then turning right, or vice versa. This meant that most of the Task Force ended up confused over which way he was going to take and in just over five minutes he had managed to lose the majority of his pursuers.

Unfortunately, Nakamori-keibu was doing an excellent job at keeping up today. And had as of yet to be lost in all the twists and turns the Heisei Lupin had made. Not that that would stop Kid from trying.

Kid sighed when he realized that he only had one more corner until the stairs that led to the roof were in front of them. Once up those he would have to stay true to his character and stay to have a witty banter with the Inspector who was **still **behind him. There was no way he would lose Nakamori now, the Inspector wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but even he by now had to have figured out that Kid was heading for the roof.

At least by now it was only Nakamori still in the chase. All of the other officers had been taken out by turning down a wrong corridor, or finding themselves stuck in some unknown substance that Kid left on the floor. This meant that at least it would be only a quick, one-on-one encounter with the Inspector tonight.

Kid flung himself around the corner and raced up the stairs in leaps and bounds, leaving the older Nakamori swearing and struggling to keep up now that he was faced with the infinite stairs this building had to offer. Even the annoyed Kid had to offer a grin at the sounds Nakamori was making as he encountered his second worst enemy. Kid, of course, being the first. Although at least with the stairs, Nakamoi had the satisfaction of grinding his heel down on each one, something he had yet been able to do to Kid, but he was still hoping.

Kid, however, had no trouble with the stairs and was soon bouncing off of the last step and striding his way across the rooftop and over to the edge of the roof. As was common on these buildings, a low wall ran the edge of the rooftop and Kid easily pulled himself up to stand on top of it.

Below was the crowd of people that gathered regularly on Kid heists. They all screamed and shouted and waved upon seeing the Magician of the Moonlight, who grinned and raised the hand clutching the jewel to show them. The screams increased in size and intensity.

"Showing off, Kid?" Nakamori growled from over by the rooftop door.

Kid turned to face him and ignored the screams from below "Not at all, Nakamori-keibu. Merely letting my adoring fans know how my latest heist went."

"It's not over yet Kid!" The offended Inspector snarled, striding over to stop a few paces away from Kid.

"It's as good as, Inspector." Kid returned shortly "I notice that there was a surprising absence from Kudo-kun today, surely you did not forget to pass on my message?"

Nakamori's eyes narrowed "I passed it on. I also added one of my own."

Kid felt his insides turn cold and his own eyes narrowed at the response "Should I take that to mean that you are responsible for Kudo-kun's absence then?"

"I merely stated that he and his friends would be arrested should they interfere with police matters again. He accepted the idea quite easily- it was that Suzuki girl that took the news less than good naturedly." Nakamori explained.

Kid kept a blank Poker Face on, but on the inside scowled at the knowledge that Kudo hadn't chosen not to attend- he had been made to keep away. Which just sucked out all of the fun for him!

_'Did he say Suzuki? As in the owners of that Silverlight jewel from the last heist?' _Kid's eyes narrowed further in thought _'Don't they also own part of the Clock Tower? And they have a daughter around Kudo-kun's age! That's it! That's the connection, Kudo showed up when his friend's parent's property was threatened!'_

"I see." Kid eventually replied "I must say, I'm disappointed. Kudo-kun offered at least some form of entertainment for me. It was actually a challenge with him around. Now though I guess it's back to the same dull experiences."

Nakamori glowered at him, seething "I will be the one to catch you Kid! And when I do..."

Kid hummed in dismissal "But you see Nakamori-keibu, I enjoyed the heists where Kudo-kun showed up. And I will be delighted if he were to do so again. Therefore I believe that I must do something about this."

Nakamori suddenly looked extremely apprehensive "What do you mean by that?"

Kid merely gave him a shark-grin and then spun on his heel and raised his arms to the crowd below "Ladies and Gentlemen..."

* * *

Xialdon: Well, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. And the apology was for those of you who were looking forward to the Kaishin and/ or Shinichi attending more Kid heists. I am so sorry, but I just couldn't see Nakamori letting Shinichi "muck about" on the heists. But don't worry, Kid has something up his sleeve to ensure that he, and all of you, get to see Shinichi back on the heists quickly. Now then, time to thank my wonderful reviewers...

**wolfspeaker01: **I'm glad it made you laugh, I hope this chapter did too! Well, Kid's figured out why Shinichi's been appearing now, so he probably feels like pouting a bit about the fact he didn't manage to attract a new detective by being an amazing thief, but because the detective's "friend" made him. :)

**A Neverending Dream of Flight: **Aww thank you so much :). I've had one or two ideas about the confrontation between Saito-san and her boyfriend, but so far I've I don't think Kid will be present at the confrontation... Oh, oh wait a minute *grins*, you've just given me an idea... hmm, perhaps Kid will be present at the confrontation after all... Just because he's there doesn't mean Shinichi has to know he's there... Again, thank you for the kind review, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Plus, thank you for the fuel for an idea- I don't know whether I will end up using it, but it's certainly creating entertaining scenarios in my head. :)

**Nightpounce: **Aww, thank you so much! I'm glad you're enjoying the story, and I'm really glad that you find all of the characters are in character. I do try my hardest to make them seem like themselves. I hope you enjoy this chapter just as much as you have the others :).

**Renkin-chan: **Thank you so much! And Kid is quite no matter what he does *grins*. Oh and don't worry, Shinichi's showing up at nearly ALL Kid heists in the future :). With the ace Kid's got up his sleeve, no one is going to let Shinichi even consider skipping a heist in the future.

**Shinigami: **Thank you for reviewing, and again I apologise for no Kaishin. I felt so bad when I wrote this chapter because you asked so nicely for some Kaishin :(. I promise you that Kid will start becoming attached to his new detective soon, and I am trying to cram as much into the chapters as I can to make the Kaishin come faster, but I just can't imagine them jumping each other right off. At some point, Shinichi will meet Kuroba Kaito, but for now he's having a hard enough time meeting up with Kid.

**The 214th Rabid Fangirl: **Thank you so much for your review. As for your question, have you watched episode 219? In the flashback in that episode it shows Kid and Kudo meeting for the first time. This story is based after that, and I have set that event about two years in the past, when they are both fifteen years old instead of seventeen. So there is still a possibility of Kudo becoming Conan in the future, although I'm not telling whether he does or not... :P.

**bb-s: **Thank you for the review, and Kid worked out that Sonoko was behind Shinichi attending the heists. But with the police opposing it, he can't exactly use Sonoko to his advantage anymore can he? But don't worry, Kid's got a way to get around the police- he always does :). I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Kuroshiro-Kai: **Aw thank you for the review! It made me feel so loved, I wonder if that had anything to do with you saying "Have I told you I love you?", hmm... Don't worry, I understand that Shinichi's still a detective, and he won't be neglecting his cases any time soon. I know there was no appearance from Saito-san in this chapter, but the case is still on going I assure you. And I hope you enjoyed the new chapter! Lol, I have only just "met" you online and yet already I just read through the reviews without looking at the name and see the "moar" at the end and go "ahh, that's Kuroshiro-Kai." I don't think I've ever known a real person with a catchphrase before...

**SecondtoNon: **Well, I updated as soon as I could! Hope you enjoyed the new chapter, and thank you for your review!

**Daisuke Kazamatsuri:** Thank you for the review! I'm glad your enjoying the story and don't worry, you'll hear more about Saito's case soon. Plus don't worry about your name, I think I'm getting the hang of it. I only needed to look once how to spell it this time and then I just typed it straight off... of course now you're probably gonna tell me I spelt it wrong. *goes off to check*...

**simply anonymous: **Thank you for your kind review! It really made me laugh! :) I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and don't worry about Shinichi, Sonoko's too busy trying to murder Nakamori and get away with it :).

**RAGA: **Thanks for the review! Sorry I took Shinichi back off of the heists again, but don't worry, Kid has a plan to get his new favourite detective back! As for the plot involving Saito-san, it will be stretching throughout the story, and goes on even after the case is resolved. But then again, you'll see that for yourself won't you? :)

**Raven the Joker: **Thank you for the review! And yes, poor Shinichi does have a lot of evil people in his life, hopefully Kid can make that better :). I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as you seemed to like the others!

**kuroange1: **Well it was a lovely idea, but unfortunately Nakamori has other ones. Never fear though, Kid will find a way to bring his newest detective back! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and look forward to the next one!

**angelwingsonline: **Thank you for taking the time to review. It's nice when people go out of their way to help other authors. No, this in no where near the first time of me writing a story, I've been told that I've never stopped writing since I was a kid. I did have another story on FF, but I took it down after I lost interest in the fandom it was for and I could no longer see the story going anywhere. I've taken English literature at A level, so I was appalled when I noticed all the mistakes I made in Chapters One and Two. The only defence I have to offer is that both chapter were written at eleven o' clock at night, which is when I feel the most creative. As such I was too tired to really concentrate on spelling and grammar, although I really should have waited until I had proof-read it to upload the story, but I had promised someone that I would have it up that night... Anyway, thanks for taking the time to review and I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far, I want to go back and fix the chapters but I'm afraid it might delete all of the kind review I've already gotten for those chapter.. :(

**FallenAngelYamiHikari: **I'm glad you had fun :). I hope you enjoyed this chapter too. If you've read the previous replies to reviews then you will see that whilst I wasn't going to have Kid involved in the ending result of Saito-san and her boyfriend, an idea was sparked by a previous reviewer and now yes, yes he will probably be there *grins*.

**NekoHatake: ***Laughs* I imagine your friend would have thought you were a bit weird if you randomly began squealing at 2 a.m. If one of my friends did that I would probably give them a few funny looks as well. I hope you enjoyed this chapter just as much, I've gained a sudden inspiration to write the next chapter now, so that one will hopefully be up soon as well.

**Cadmium Poisoning: **I'm sorry! I know you wanted more of Shinichi taking part in Kid's heists, but believe me Kid has an ace up his sleeve to get him back. Anyway, I'm glad you've enjoyed the story so far, and I hope you liked this chapter.

**Kanika Meskhenet: **I'm glad you enjoyed it, and thank you for the review! Kaito is probably my favourite character too, tying first with Shinichi that is (cause I laugh at him when he's being all sarcastic). I hope you enjoyed this chapter just as much.

**LugiaObsessedKid: **You scare me, not that I didn't love your reviews, because I absolutely did. But I think you can read my mind, and that scares me :) I swore to myself that I would upload the next chapter after I got 60 reviews, and as the reviews started slowing down around the 56 mark, I thought I was OK for a while. Then they went up to 58 and I panicked a bit more, because I still hadn't finished the chapter. And then you came along, and as if you knew I was planning on waiting until I got 60 reviews, you left three reviews at once, taking me above 60 reviews! I had a panic attack and have been non stop writing to get the chapter finished quickly. *Laughs* Oh well, you got me motivated at least, thanks for the reviews!

**Mesonoxian: **I know he is, that's why I can't help but put him in all kinds of odd situations! *grins* I hope he was as fun this chapter!

**anonymous: **Thanks for the review! :) I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as you did the last!

Xialdon: Well that's it for now, I'll get Chapter Five out as soon as it's done! Thanks for all the great reviews everybody! :)


	5. Sorry

_(Nervously pokes head out of hiding place for the last year...)_

Ok... so well, yeah... Hi everyone!

Been a while hasn't it? I've just spent a very amusing past few minutes looking at my LJ account and some of the responses I've gotten to my original post there... and in response to one of the comments in particular I feel an incredible need to prove that I am actually still alive. So congratulations to those of you who felt that Shinichi/ Conan may be needed to solve my inexplicable death as you have managed to drag me out of hiding with my tail between my legs.

I'm not quite sure how to justify the amount of time I've spent away from the story, but I'll tell you my reasons and you can decide whether they're good enough or not. But first I would like to say I am very sorry for choosing possibly the worst chapter (evil cliffie) to leave you guys hanging at, I'm so sorry!

First and foremost: I am a **perfectionist**. I absolutely loathe the idea of leaving any story of mine in a state that I find unacceptable and since my brief attempt at writing a Yu-Gi-Oh! Fanfiction which some of you may remember, I haven't uploaded a story as I didn't want to post one on until I was at the stage where it was nearly finished as by then I would know if I had included and double checked everything I needed to double check. In fact, the only reason that my story was not in that state when I first uploaded it was that I took part in a bet with high stakes on the line with my "friends" and they made me bet that I would upload my story as it stood if I lost the bet... I have since found out that that bet was rigged against me... but, well it's a little too late now isn't it?

Anyway, as I have been rambling for quite a while now, the reason I mentioned my perfectionism is that I found huge glaringly obvious mistakes throughout my story (mainly spelling) that I feel I can't leave unchecked.

And on top of my perfectionism, the longer I feel that I have a left a story abandoned for, the more guilty I feel for abandoning it and the more I put off writing it as I'm feeling guilty and horrible. This is a pathetic reason and I am aware of that, please feel no need to comment :)

So, now after proving to everyone that, no, I have not died in some tragic and unforeseeable accident, I suppose I had best make the following promises.

First off, because I did not want to post the story in the first place until I had checked and double checked etc, I will not be updating this story until I have first modified and tweaked the original chapters. This tweaking may include adding more parts to the chapters, it may not, it depends what sorry state I've left them in, so be warned new content may be appearing throughout the original chapters.

My second promise is that now with the most hectic time of my school career coming to an end (and with only two exams left until I leave forever!) is that I am now in a position where I can dedicate time to the story comfortably. So I will be updating some time within the next couple of months.

… Right, so I think that's it. I've offered apologies, my reasons (however pathetic) and I've given my promises. Now if maybe one or two of my kind reviewers could PM me every now and again with a more polite version of "hurry the hell up" I can actually stick to the promises and try to get back into the swing of this story.

So to all my lovely reviewers, I offer another apology and the hopes that you will still stick with this story after I begin the tweaks and the eventual updates. So for now...

Bye Bye,

Xialdon


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